The Cherry Blossom Puppet
by Kamon772
Summary: Sakura and Chiyo loss against Sasori and thus Sakura ends up as Sasori’s three hundred puppet. Naruto tries and fails in an attempt to get her back, though Sasori then make one mistake that leads to something unexpected.
1. Sasori gets his 300th human puppet

This is an idea I got for a friend of mine, 300th Puppet by rote Ritter, Naruto: Something Wron by wbrooks at Deviantart and Sasori's Favorite Toy a picture done by Kikikun at Deviantart

Chapter 01 (caution this chapter will include a detail description of Sasori's human puppet process)  
0000000000000000000000000000000000

Sasori of the Red Sand looked over the cave where one tailed demon had been extracted as it was now littered with craters, up turned rocks formations, and remains of broken puppets (two being his favorite puppets and the ten which belong to the creator of Kugutsu). It was certainly ashame that he had to destroy the Ten Puppet Collection of Chikamatsu and that his two favorite puppets were also destroyed in the battle but in the end what he would gain would definitely outweighed the loss he had suffered to today.

"You provided me with a very interesting fight," Sasori said as he looked down at a beaten and unconscious girl around fifteen years old with pink hair. She was wearing a red forehead protector from ninja village of Konoha. This was none other then Sakura Haruno who had been knocked out after she managed not only save his grandmother's life but also managed to avoid getting stabbed in a vital spot at the same time.

"You were simply amazing," Sasori said as bent over to get a closer look at leaf chunin. He then looked over to where his two favorite puppets that had been destroyed as a result of this battle: Hiruko, which he wore all the time like a coat, and the Third Kazekage, which was his strongest puppet.

She looked so calm lying there unconscious, and from just looking at her now, it would be hard to believe that she even be as strong as she was while she was still conscious.

As Sasori looked down at Sakura's prone form, he eyes then ventured to the broken puppets that lay scattered across the cave that had just been their battleground. The immortal puppeteer from Suna repeated this process a couple of time before getting an idea for what he was going to do about replacing two of his favorite puppets as well as what to do with remains of Chikamatsu's ten puppets, since it was everyday that he came across a mother load of premium parts like this and he was definitely going to make use of them as it would be a waste not otherwise.

"Since you destroyed my favorite puppets, it's only right that you make it up to me by replacing them, right?" Sasori asked the unconscious girl.

Sakura did not respond to the question that would change her life and fate possibly forever, though, how could she since she was currently unconscious and had no idea what Sasori was saying. So, he was pretty much deciding this all on his own.

"Since you're not saying anything in response, I guess I will take that as yes then," Sasori told her as he heaved the pink hair girl over his shoulder.

'You were so nimble and agile in the way you managed to avoid most of my traps, and there was the strength displayed when you destroyed my favorite puppets. When I thinking about it, you were already like a living puppet with the way my Grandma was controlling you back when she still had two arms. Then there is that mind of yours allowed you to come up with antidote to my poison, something that will prove most useful as I will use that knowledge of yours to make an even stronger poison. But those skills of yours will decrease with age just like my grandma if I treat you like a living puppet so you are going to become human puppet instead, so that power of yours will never decrease,' Sasori thought.

'Though, what a puppet that does not have any a few extras connected to it?' the Red Sand thought as he grabbed and then when about gathering various pieces of Hiruko, Third Kazekage, and Chikamatsu's puppets.

"Although you destroy my favorite puppets, I am going to combine elements of them as well as Chikamatsu's puppets with you since you are not going to be the replacement for the both of them but will be vastly superior to the both Hiruko and the Third Kazekage combined," Sasori said. 'Also you are quite beautiful; I going to make sure that I take extra care to capture that beauty so that can be used as a weapon as well,' Sasori thought as he planned to make it so she could double as spy puppet since the puppet in his collection were all meant for battle. There were quite of few human puppets of various ages (from kids to seniors citizens) in his collection that he used simply for luring his targets (male or female) into lowering their guard, thus allow him to get whatever he wanted from them.

Sasori took one last looked at his fallen grandmother Chiyo one last time and thought about for a second as there were more then enough spare parts left over to make her into excellent human puppet as well. After thinking it over though, he had said during the battle that he was going to add both of them. Now that he was at this point where he could, he no longer desired having her in his collection. While he was no longer interested in her as potential new face in his already vast collection, he felt there was no need for him to kill her as time would do that for him eventually anyway, and he already had enough human puppets of her age already. Thus Sasori left the battlefield with Sakura and the things he was going to add onto her future puppet body.  
0000000000000000000000000000000000000

With the wooded area that Naruto and Kakashi fought against Deidara….

The clay user hand popped out the ground, revealing that he was not dead as seemly blowing himself up front to his opponents.

"I see that you lost to the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, Deidara," Sasori said as he appeared just in time to see his partner as he fully dug his way out the ground.

"They were just stronger then I expected, and that Kakashi guy almost killed me with that eye of his," Deidara told him then noticed he had the pink hair girl over his shoulder.

"So you're going to make that girl into one of your puppet huh? Let me guess, she destroyed Hiruko so you're going to have her replace it?" the clay using nin asked as that would be the only reason he was not wearing the slug like puppet now.

"Of course, though it was not only Hiruko but my Third Kazekage puppet as well," the puppeteer told him.

"You mean that she was strong enough to do something like that?" Deidara asked. Sasori had purposely made the body of those two stronger then any of his other puppets for the sheer fact that they were his favorite and he used them in battle the most.

"Not exactly. She was being used like a puppet by my grandma but the strength and skills she displayed were her own for the most part. She's going to make me a wonderful puppet, probably the strongest one I have ever made, especially after I add all of these things to her," Sasori said as jerked his head toward his other shoulder where he had various limbs, weapons, and other things he taken from all the puppets scattered across the cave he did battle in.

"Well, I am going to make her into my best human puppet yet, so you know where to find me if the leader gives us another assignment. All right?" Sasori said as he walked off.

Deidara just shrugged his shoulders. He had to get his arm reattached to him that is once he could find it.

'Just what the hell was that attack anyway? I have never seen something like that before, even from the bastard Itachi,' the blonde Akatsuki member thought as they searched the woods for his arm that had his Akatsuki Ring.

Deidara spent the next couple of minute looking for his arm, only to have it given to him by a man in orange mask that was calling himself Tobi.  
0000000000000000000000000000000000000

A few days later in undisclosed location that was far away from both Suna and Konoha...

'Where am I?' Sakura thought. She came to, only to see that she was trapped in cage in what looked like a demented version of puppeteer workshop. She then closed her eyes again as she tried to focus on just what had happened to her before this moment. The last thing at that she remembered was that Chiyo-sama and she were fighting against her grandson after that idiot Naruto left to chase after Gaara. She knew how he must have felt since they both had demons sealed in them, but really he need to start thinking before he acts. Then it hit her. She remembered the last thing that happened before now, that being saving Chiyo and possible her own life by managing to block a poison sword strike from Sasori, only to have him grab her head, and then slam it down hard into the ground. That effectively knocked her out in the process.

"Ahh! I see that you are finally awake. I was starting think that I would have to a skip a step since you were taking so long to come around," Sasori said as he appeared in the doorway of his demented puppeteer workshop with a large load of wood and a bunch of large scrolls.

"Where is Chiyo-sama, why have you captured me, and do you think a cage like this can hold me?" Sakura demanded since the bars looked old and rusted to the point that one of her charka enhanced punches should do the trick.

"I would like to see you try to break this cage," Sasori said with a smirk on his face as he wiped two blood stain table where place the scrolls on one and the wood on another.

"Fine, you asked for it," Sakura said as she punched the bars but then screamed out in pain as nothing happened the way it was suppose to.

"Did you really think that I would let you keep your ability to gather and use charka before I was completely ready to transform you into my puppet?" he told her as approached her cage.

"Your what?" Sakura yelled. She was not going to let herself be turned into this guy plaything if she had anything to say about it. This guy was sick to have turned his own parents and who knows how many other into puppets, so there was no tell what he would do to her if he transformed her into one as well. Just then images of puppet version of herself being used to do a number of things that she would never do otherwise began flashing through her head.

"That's right. You're going to become my three hundred creation and not only replace the two puppets that you destroyed with the help of my grandmother but surpass them as well," he informed her.

"Now to have you write down in detail everything that you're capable of since I'm sure that the battle was not fully display of your skills," Sasori said as he opened the cage with one hand and had the other form charka strings that connected to Sakura's body.

The pink hair chunin stared at the missing Sand nin with defiance since there was no way she was just going to willingly do as he says even if she did not have the ability to gather or use charka at the moment. She should still be able to resist him control of her body, at least to some degree.

"You do not really have choice in the matter. In few minutes, I'll have control of your mind as well as your body," Sasori said as, despite her best efforts, Sakura's body was slowing being pulled towards him step by step.

'This looked like it would be some much easier from seeing grandmother do it,' Sasori thought quickly getting impatient that the most he could make Sakura do were small step as the amount force he need to used in controlling the charka string were far from the light and fluid motion that Chiyo used when doing the same thing. Then again she was willingly allowing herself to used a puppet, now she was fighting against it with every muscle in her body.

Sakura felt the string drop from her body as she regain control her limbs only to feel a black seal with red writing on being place on her forehead because Sasori felt this was taking to long and rather then make her come to him, he just went to her instead.

'What this seal he placed on my fore...head...no...its...getting....hard....to....think....thoughts....fading ....must...fight...must... resist...must...endure...must...must obey my master commands,' Sakura thought as her eyes widened before becoming vacant and devoid of all life as her face also went expressionless soon after.

'Perfect!' Sasori thought as the seal worked in stealing away her free will away from her making her into his willing slave and able to do only what he commanded her too. The seal that now sat squarely on Sakura's forehead was based off the one he had stolen from Orochimaru back when they were still partners. Since they were the based off the prototype version and not the ones that he heard were used on the First and Second Hokage when invade his home village, Sakura had not permanent lost her free will and if the seal was removed, it would come back. But there was no one here but him and her, so there was no chance of that happening.

Sasori then cupped Sakura's face in his hand and then turned her head from right to left.

Sakura for her part did nothing as this was happening but stared straight ahead at nothing. She was unable to lift a single muscle or even form a single thought on her own at the moment.

"Say your name," Sasori ordered her after releasing her face.

"Sakura Haruno," she then replied instantly monotonous tone void of all emotion.

"Punch yourself in the gut normally without using your charka." He then told her she was no longer in the cage since there was no longer a need for a literal change with the seal now firmly in place.

Sakura then lifted her hand and drove it into her gut as she was commanded to as the blank expression never left her face even after she was pushed back some by the force of her fist colliding with her gut.

"Dance in circle," He ordered her.

Sakura then began to dancing various dance moves she knew all while going in a circle exactly as she was told to.

"Now go over there and right down all of your abilities in detail starting with how you counter act my poison," he order her.

Sakura then walked over to the table where he placed the large scroll, unrolled one, and began to do as she was told.

Sasori smiled. This seal sure did save him some trouble, while before he would have to guess what his human puppet were able to do from what he saw while fighting them. With this, he could get them to tell him everything they knew how to do in detail and in writing thus saving him from the countless hours he spend before using the seal, in wondering what ability his newest human puppets had and how to use them to their fullest potential.

Over the next week, Sakura wrote in detail all of her abilities, both medical and combat wise. She only stopped when her body gave out and she collapsed on the table. Sasori would then take a food pill (which kept in his workshop for this reason) and make her swallow them. It just wouldn't do to have the person that was going to be joining his collection look malnourished before they were officially the newest part of his collection.

He wondered just how a medic nin human puppet would work out. This was something that he had never really tried before, so he was very interested in seeing how Sakura would turn out once she was finished. A puppet with the ability to heal was something—that was something he would have never thought of before since his body, his puppets, and her own soon enough would be nothing but wood with charka inside it. Maybe the use of her medical ability could be as a deadly technique disguised as healing or it might be possible that Sakura would have the ability to repair herself with her own medical techniques.

But what he was most interested in was using her knowledge of poison, which now written down in a large scroll. He wanted to create a poison that really did have no antidote, since if was possible to make one than any poison to be made into harmless protein, then maybe it would be possible to make that antidote into a poison that turns harmless protein into deadly poisons thus poisoning the target with their own body's protein. Whatever the case was, he was sure that she was going to be an interesting human puppet indeed.

Also, while she was doing this, he got together all the things that he needed to before he could begin turning Sakura into a human puppet because everything needed to be perfect. Messing up in the middle of process was not an option and she was not going to be a human normal puppet, but one that was fitting of being his hundred creation as well as the one able to superior all others before her.  
0000000000000000000000000000000000000

On the eight day, Sasori came into the workshop to see Sakura was sitting there with her hand in her lap not moving at all.

"Are you sure you wrote everything down?" Sasori inquired.

"Yes, master," Sakura responded from where she was, not even turning her head to do so.

"Than taken off your clothes, as well everything else you have on, and throw them in the trash over there since you will no longer need them."

With out hint of embarrassment or shock running across Sakura's blank face, she stripped naked and dispose of her clothes in the trash and stood there awaiting her next order.

"Now come over here and strap yourself into these shackles," Sasori commanded the pink hair teenager, which she did without a moment's delay.

With this done, Sasori could begin the sickening process of converting Sakura from human girl to human puppet girl.

He first started with her feet by chopping them from her ankle, and right after he severed her feet, he placed two seal on her ankles to stop the bleeding so she did not bleed to death. For this to work, he couldn't have her dying on him because of blood loss.

Sasori took a moment to look at the seal on Sakura's forehead and was glad that stole that prototype seal from the Snake Sanin because before using it, he would have to listen to a future human puppet's scream and curses as he went through the human puppet making process. However now, thanks to this seal, he could work in peace as they could do anything he had told them to, even when he working on transforming their body.

Returning his attention to the task at hand, he took Sakura's feet and using through a process he created, drained the charka from her feet into a container that kept the charka from vanishing. He then hallowed out her feet, getting rid of the muscle, bones, tissues, blood, etc. Once this was done, he grabbed two wooden feet made of a special wood lying on a table to his left. This wood was the same that most ninjas used to make the paper that allowed them to see what their elemental type was; however, he altered it so that it would absorb charka and store it within itself. This was how he managed to have his human puppets retain their charka within their wooden bodies. He then slid the wooden feet inside Sakura's like a person who was putting on a pair of shoes, then stuck the two of them inside the container with her charka. Once inside, the wooden feet would absorb the charka and for some reason wooden feet would also expand in till they took on the exact shape of person's hallow out feet (in this case Sakura's). He did not know why this happened but he really did not care nor put too much thought into it. After all, the charka had been absorbed. He left them in there to dry and to make sure that all the charka and been absorbed into the wood. When this was complete, he removed them from the container, took a scalpel, and slowly and carefully cut free the wood feet from original person's feet. Once finished, he threw away skin into the trash since it no longer served any purpose for him. He placed the wooden feet on table to his right.

Sasori continued this process all the way up Sakura's body until the girl was nothing more then pile of wooden parts laying on table. Before placing her head in the container, he removed the seal and placed her head inside the container quickly before her free will could return. After the process draining the charka from her head was done, he carefully and with great care separated her hair from her head. Then he placed it down with other wooden body parts, leaving Sakura's hair that was now different then a wig made of human hair. Before going about hallowing out her head, Sasori plucked out her eyes and transformed into simple puppet eyes through another process that he had created.

Now he took her charka less, bald, and eyeless head, hollowed it out just like the rest of her body, and slipped a wooden head into it before submerging it in the container holding charka that he drained earlier. Once the wood had absorbed the charka and had taken the shape of her head, he freed her bald and wooden head from her skin of her original one. Then he attached her hair to it, and for some reason, the second her hair made connect with her wooden head, it became glued on and could not be removed again. Next, he placed her eyes into the empty wooden eye sockets where they too became permanently set yet still able to move like normal eyes. With that done, Sasori held the wooden head of the Haruno girl in his hand and examined it closely before placing it down with the other body parts.

Now that his three hundred creation's body parts were finished, it was time to work on the extra thing that he had wanted to add to this new human puppet. He grabbed Sakura's wooden hands, feet, and torso and took them over to three containers that were filled with the Third Kazekage's Iron Sand and charka. After placing them with these containers, they complete absorbed the charka and took the Iron Sand with them once they had. The point behind this was that Sasori wanted to have her able to use the Sand to increase her punching and kicking power even more than what was possible when she only used chakra and also added the ability morph her feet in various things like knives and claws. As for her torso, that's where the rest of the sand would be stored so she could use it in the same way that Sasori had with the Third Kazekage when he used him in battle. Though for some reason the sand had seemed to lose the poison that he added to it and he was also unable to reapply the poison. As for Hiruko's tail, which he had collected and repaired, he connected it at where the base of her spine had been.

With the addition from his old favorite puppets completed, he began laying out the things that he had collected from Chikamatsu's ten puppets. The bombs used by the second puppet were placed into a seal located on her right palm. While in the left palm was a seal which held the charka sealing orb used by the third puppet. Another two seals were then placed on her forearms where the two large head-cleaving swords of the seventh puppet were stored, and thanks to Sakura's charka, enhanced strength and dexterity would not drop because of their sheer size and weight. The reason he placed them all in seals rather then within her body was because he did not want to weigh her wooden body down with anymore weight then he needed too. Also, she could not double as one of his puppets he used to get information and other things if her weight was unnatural for girl her height and size. With the extras done, for now at least, all that was left was to assemble her piece by piece

Sasori then stood back and then walked around his three hundred creation once he had finished assembling her. He looked the naked pink hair puppet over from head to toe, examining it and making sure all the joints worked correctly. Then he added the last touch, which was painting and polishing her body with his specially design paint and polish that he created. He only did this once every hundred puppets that he had made, so that Sakura and two others were the only ones of three hundred human puppets in his collection that were painted to have their body the same color it was when they were human. The polish would make the wooden Sakura waterproof, protected against rotting, termites, etc. Sasori did not have to worry about painting over the seals that were on her hands and forearms because they were carved into her body and specially painted over them to give the appearance she was pulling the contents of the seals from nowhere.

"Perfect! Now for a repeat of what happened almost two weeks ago," Sasori said as he stood some distant away from his newest creation and let his charka string attach to her body. Sakura began moving and walking over to Sasori without a hint of the resistance she showed two weeks ago, mostly because the only thing left of her original body was her hair, eyes, and charka. Sasori noticed as made Sakura move around the workshop acting a maid of sorts cleaning up the leftover and dispose of trash (all her original body parts) that there were no loud clicking sounds coming from her body.

Thus this confirmed his theory's point that limiting the amount of weaponry and features inside a puppet was a way of preventing the clicking sounds that most of the puppets today displayed. Though she was not filled to the top with traps and hidden weapons, this did not put her at disadvantage in a battle. Thanks to the Third Kazekage's Iron Sand, her own super strength, and few hidden surprises he managed to work in, in different manner then housing them inside her body.

Having finished the initial test run, Sasori took the Sakura puppet and made her follow him outside where he performed a number of her moves, tested of her use of Iron Sand, and thought of ways to add her newly added tail, bombs, swords, and charka sealing orb into her fighting style.

"I see that you're finished changing her into one of your human puppets, though you did it again," Deidara said as he showed up and watched the wooden Sakura perform under the control of Sasori.

"Did what?" Sasori asked as the Sakura puppet crushed a large rock then started attacking tree with claws made of Iron Sand around her hands and feet while she swung from tree to tree with her tail.

"Nothing," Deidara sighed, wondering if this was something Sasori did on purpose since no matter who he transformed, he always does this during the first test run of his newest human puppet.

That thing being Sakura, since he brought the puppet out to test her shortly after he completed assembled her, meaning she was still naked. The wooden Sakura was doing all these things while she was butt naked. However, since she was nothing more then a human puppet now, Deidara guessed Sasori only saw her as his property and did not care in slightest that that she was doing this while nude. Though if Sakura was aware of her current state, she probably would be incredibly embarrassed at being made to jump around while she was wearing nothing but her birthday suit

"So do we have any new orders for the leader yet?" Sasori asked as turned his attention toward Deidara again. In response, his partner just shook his head no.

"Then why did you come here then?" he asked.

"I wanted to see if you were finished with your latest creation and it seems that you have," Deidara replied.  
0000000000000000000000000000000000000

A few hours later…

Sasori was standing before the Sakura puppet again. This time he had dressed her in the coat that he all of his other puppets wore. However since she was his three hundred creation, she would have a different color then the others as another sign of him reaching another hundredth puppet. Her coat was a maroon like color; yet, as sign that she had some of the abilities of the Chikamatsu's puppets, her collar was like theirs, only a dark maroon color and her cloak sleeves were as long as the seventh puppet's whose swords she now carried in seals on her forearms. Grabbing a scroll off the table, he then stored Sakura in there and placed her where he had once kept the Third Kazekage. With this done, he left the lab and then went off to go see where he would soon receive real combat experience with his newest human puppet.  
0000000000000000000000000000000000000

I would like to thank:

Shadow patronus and RANMACAT for review my story

Alaendil, Qprime91, and MikeJV37 for adding this story to their favorite story list

Shadow Patronus FAVORITOS! and The Ancient Library on Sakura Lane for adding this to their C2 archives

GangstaJ, darnod, MikeJV37, and Tori-chan18 for adding this story to their Story Alert List

hazlov2004 for adding me to their Author Alert list


	2. Sasori’s Cherry Blossom Pt 01

The red haired puppet master looked around as he climbed his way out of a canyon that was know as the Devil's Ravine, a canyon filled with poisonous gas of unknown origin which served as natural barrier for the residents of the Land of Bears. However this barrier was no match for someone like Sasori who did not need to breath since only one part of his body was still human and it was not his lungs.

The immortal puppet master then changed his clothes and burned them then had one of his human puppets for the Hidden Mist spray him with water to wash away what poison might still been on him. He did not have worry about his collection being affected by the poison. He had made sure they were safely stored away within his wooden body to prevent the poisonous gases from seeping into his puppet scrolls like it had into his clothes.

As for why he was here, it was simply because this was his newest set of orders. Rather then continue to be paired up with Deidara; the Leader decided to pair the missing Earth nin with this new guy named Tobi. His new job was to helping in speeding up part one of the Akatsuki's master plan which was gathering a large amount of money. A former wandering ninja turned bandit had been terrorizing the towns with this country and had collected quite the bounty over the last two years that was enough to attract the attention of Sasori's superior as bounty worth taking. Though no other team would have been able to enter the country since the entrances to the country were all closely guard and everyone had to go in and out the same way making much harder for anyone other then Sasori to get in without being spotted (since his puppet body would allow him travel through the canyon), thus using their own natural defense to his advantage.  
00000000000000000000000000000000000000

Upon making it to town, he overheard that the town had been terrorized by the bandits a lot recently, Sasori decided that in order to gather information on his target, he needed to lure one of the bandits to him and make him reveal the location of their hideout and his boss. He was about to grab one of the usual puppets that he used at times like this when he got an idea.

'While not actually combat, it would be a good time to see if I could use her as one of my spy puppets,' Sasori thought to himself as he reach for Sakura's scroll and summoned his three hundred creation.

Appearing in puff of smoke, the pink hair human puppet stood there awaiting Sasori to use her in whatever way he desired, since she had no way of resisting him anymore.

"You are about to have your first official use," Sasori said to her, despite the fact that she was unable to hear anything he said.

Before he could have her go out and find a bandit, she would need a change of clothes; and that meant "borrowing" them from someone within this village to make it easier for her to blend in. It took awhile of searching since this town did not have many teenagers traveling alone that seemed to wear the same size clothes as Sakura.

Sasori managed to find one after awhile of searching around black hair fifteen years old, who seemed to be trying to hide for someone.

Since the teenager was too busy looking out for whoever she was hiding from, she never saw Sakura being directed behind her.

"Hey what are..." The girl started to say when she noticed Sakura placing a finger on her forehead and plucking it. With this simple pluck Sakura destroyed the entire forehead area of the girl's skull thus killing her almost instantly since it was charka enhanced. The now dead girl did not go flying out the alley they were in thanks to Sakura's tail and Iron Sand rooting the teen to her spot. Sakura was then directed to take the girl's clothes and then dump her body in a dumpster.

Now wearing the clothes of the girl she was just made to kill, Sakura look like she was normal person again as the clothing covered most of her puppet joints and with the exception of her hands, which were easily fixed by giving her a pair of gloves. Her face did not need covering since she did not have normal puppet mouth but realistic one that all the spy puppets had.

Sakura was then made to stand on a corner and pose in ways she would have never done so a month ago. It took awhile but she finally managed to lure one bandit in, lead him to spot Sasori decided on, and slammed the bandit against the wall with Sakura keeping him pinned to it.

"Now then, where is your hideout," Sasori asked not wasting any time in getting straight to what he wanted to know

"Like I ever reveal the location of our hideout!" the bandit told him, kicking something at Sasori with his leg. Though that would mostly the last time he would ever use that leg since there was loud crushing sound followed by the bandit muffled scream as Sakura was made to hold his mouth shut with her free hand.

"I would refrain for doing that again unless you want the bones in your other leg to shatter like the one is your right one," Sasori told him as Sakura kicked his right leg with her half her strength.

Five minute later the bandit was on the ground with all four limbs lying useless on the ground, having been crushed by Sakura when he refused to cooperate. Once he had finally told Sasori the information he wanted, the guy was left to die as small bone fragments for his four crushed limbs cut up his insides. 00000000000000000000000000000000000000

The hideout where the bandits were staying was a place that would have been hard to find if one did not know what they were looking for. It's location deep in the forest within cave seemed to have one entrance, but thanks to information he made that his bandit give up, he learned of second less used entrance that was more of an escape route then a entrance.

"Man, guard duty here is so boring! It's not like anyone is going to ever be coming this way," the bandit on duty sighed. He been assigned here as form of punishment, even though, those that made it as far as the front entrance to their hideout did not make it much further then that before the guards took them out or they got lost in the maze caverns that this cave held.

He then noticed a pink girl walking through the entrance and coming straight towards him.

"Hey, you there! By coming here you just signed your own death warrant," the guard said because he was informed to kill anyone that came this way if they were a ninja.

Unfortunately, since the Sakura puppet was not wearing anything that give off the idea that she was anything more then common town person, the guard rushed her. The fight between Sakura and the guard was over soon after it started. Sakura was made to side step his first attack and Sasori had her followed up with quick back slap that sent the guard flying in the wall, creating a crater about five inches deep as he did so before falling to the ground dead.

The maze like cavern defense did not slow down Sasori as he ran into two bandits on the way here and had Sakura "persuade" one of them to give him more information about the cave.

Arriving at the main hideout, people seem to immediately know who Sasori was and started attacking him, which was bad idea since he had Sakura kill every single one of them using all the abilities she had been given. Bandits were blow up, crushed by Iron Sand, and had impressions of her fists, head, and feet five inches deep in their corpses, and many were lying in two separate pieces as they cut clean in half by one of Sakura's huge swords.

The leader of the bandit who happened to Nagare, the same Nagare that was presumed incarcerated by Kakashi, stood looking for a way out while he could hear the screams and curses of his men as they were being killed left and right. Soon the force that was taking down the group he spent two years building kicked down his door and entered the room.

At this point Sakura was covered in blood as the clothes she had stolen were dye red and in tatters from various swords, spears, bows, and kunai she was made to either defend against or just destroy flat out. Her swords were also cover with the blood of the bandits she been made to kill and the blood from her last few kills still dripped down from the tips of the two blades.

Nagare slowly backed away from her. If this girl alone could take out his entire band of bandits on her own, then what hope did he stand? He began to panic when he noticed who came in shortly after her and immediately guessed just what Sakura was from simply seeing Sasori.

"I wonder how is it that you know who I am," Sasori asked, since while his name was well known through most of the world, outside of Akatsuki there were only two that knew what he truly looked like. One of them was dead and the other was his three hundred creation.

Nagare did not respond however as he just kept staring at him not moving an inch.

Using Sakura's tail to grab his unresponsive body, Sasori simply left the now empty hideout, using her to carrying Nagare's body, not caring about the reason behind his target's currently unresponsive state. Sasori would later figure out that the former wandering ninja was dead, and the reason behind Nagare's death was that his knowledge of Sasori and his background was enough to literally scare the man to death.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000

I would like to thank:

RANMACAT for review my story

King Hawke for reviewing and beta reading Chapter 01 and 02


	3. Sasori’s Cherry Blossom Pt 02

Upon acquiring his target, Sasori made contact with Leader and was now awaiting Zestu to appear and take the body to the bounty officer that Kakuzu usually went to since he never revealed the identify of the bounty hunter that visit him. Unlike the bounty officer before him who had big mouth and ended up in his collection as result.

As he waited for his plant like comrade to appear, Sasori took a look over to where Sakura was standing with Nagare's body on her shoulder.

The puppet girl was still covered in blood that had long since dried and her swords, which once covered in blood as well, were now drying. Sakura had used her Iron Sand to clean the blades to keep them from growing dull and rusted.

Bored of simply waiting for Zetsu, Sasori took one hand and created charka strings that connected to his latest creation and made her set the body down.

He then pulled out large scroll and directed her to hold it. The scroll Sakura was holding in her hands was no other then one of the scroll that contain everything she knew how to do. Since he had some free time until Zetsu showed up, Sasori thought it would be good to see just how Sakura had managed to find an antidote to his poison. Something that was beyond even the ability of his late grandmother and possible this girl's teacher, the Slug Sannin.

"I see that you complete your mission. That was rather fast though, for someone with a bounty that large," Zetsu said he appeared while he was in the middle of road over the scroll and having Sakura unroll it for him.

"It was all too easy with my newest creation," the puppet master respond motion to Sakura who hands dropped to her sides as there were no charka strings holding them up.

"This girl was the apprentice to the current Hokage and teammate to the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki," Zestu's black side said.

"Yeah, this chick might prove useful in getting the Kyuubi brat," Zetsu's white side replied.

"Maybe, but I'm still testing her out. She did well for her first initial test run in real combat, but the leader proved to be no challenge since he died simply of being scared," he told his partner.

"Really, this idiot was literally scared to death. I guess the reason he had such a high bounty on his head was because this country's ninja and army are so weak that they need to depend on bounty hunters to do their jobs for them. Oh well, it's not like they'll ever know this chicken's bounty was over priced," Zestu's white side said laughing at Nagare before picking him up and leaving.

With that job completed, Sasori went back and Sakura had roll up the scroll. Now that he was no longer waiting for retrieve part of his mission, he could finally start cleaning up Sakura though the blood caked on her face and hands even though it did not take anything from her already amazing appearance. In fact, this only magnify it to some extend because it showed that she was completely and utterly his and only his since he was sure that she would not never done something like massacre a whole group of bandits, judging from what he saw of her while she was still human.

000000000000000000000000000000000000

Later in an Akatsuki hideout that was set up by one of the spies that managed to set before being discovered and then was ordered to commit suicide in order to prevent their connection to the Akatsuki from being uncovered, Sasori had started the work of getting Sakura cleaned up.

Sasori had her discarded of the tattered clothes she had been wearing up until this point thus leaving her to standing in front of Sasori butt naked again. The pink hair puppet was then made to move in various ways to give her owner a good view of her body. He was not only taking in beauty; as with the way she was now her appearance and skills would be preserved forever. He was also looking her over to see if she had taken damage from the bandit massacre (since it was too unevenly match to even qualify as a fight).

For the most part, there was nothing that could be classified as major damage with just a few cuts and scratches that were located on various parts of her body. The biggest cut was on her ankle where a guy he was sure was dead managed to slash her there, thinking this would give them the advantage. Sasori could not help as small snicker came from his mouth at the reaction of the shocked man. His kunai made connect with Sakura's ankle but instead of it bleeding like the bandit expected the kunai got stuck in her ankle as he could see how she was not human. His life was promptly taken when some iron sand returned the bandit's kunai, stabbing him in the forehead.

Sakura was then made to sit down and set her damaged leg on her lap twisted in a way that would have been impossible or at least incredibly painful if she still had a human body. It was then that Sasori went over how to use charka for healing rather then simply for charka strings and attack. Once done, he took control of Sakura's arm and guided her in the step that he used and went over to see if she could repair the gash on her ankle. Sure enough as Sakura's wooden hands glowed with green charka over her damaged ankle it was quickly repaired and looked as if the gash was never there.

'Amazing! this is going to save me a ton of time in have to make repairs,' Sasori thought as he might go out and get some more combat medical ninja; this time, some older ones as this would also prove useful in battle and time he could make it to one his workshop to make repairs.

All the ideas he was thinking of were ruined when he learned that Sakura could only repair herself and no one else. In fact, what was healing charka for her was somewhat of a universal antidote to everything else as it seem her antidote (which had all been used on her during their battle) had been purified of what poison had be present within.

Asking Sakura at this point was impossible thanks to her current state and she did not write anything about this in the scrolls he ordered her to write while she was still human. Thus making this current situation as something unforeseen or a possible a side effect of his human puppet process and the antidote she created.

Whatever the reason, it was not important as Sakura being able to repair herself and learning it simply was possible for a puppet to repair itself was good enough for him. Also it was not like she the only medical nin in the world. He simply needed to find some more medical nin, discover the secret that allow them to repair themselves and others, then make a medical nin human puppet that would act as his automatic repairer.

Yet adding his three hundred and first human puppet to his collection would have to wait. He needed to head over to Heaven and Earth Bridge in the Grass Country. He had rescheduled a meeting with a spy he had place with his Orochimaru's ranks that was originally cancelled because he had been spending that time converting Sakura into what she was now.

000000000000000000000000000000000000

I would like to thank:

RANMACATS for review my story

King Hawke for beta reading Chapter 03


	4. The Battle of Tenchikyō

After a week of almost non stop travel (crossing through Devil's Ravine again took about two days) Sasori was now in the Land of Grass and well on his way to the Heaven and Earth Bridge. Though during his traveling across the two country that separate him from his destination, gave Sasori a lot time to think things over as his spy was acting rather funny as of late. He noticed it sooner but simply played it off as nothing more then him making a big deal out of nothing. However he was made every suspicious when his sleep agent within Orochimaru's ranks insisted that the meeting happen as originally planned rather then simply accepting that he was rescheduling it because making Sakura into his three hundred puppet was more important at the time. That and the fact that the information he was getting from them was proving to be less and less useful with each time. Taking all these things into account it was safe to assume that sleeper agent could quite possibly be a double agent since everything was starting to make sense now.

'It better be cautious now then sorry later Sasori' thought as he stopped and got his plans ready for just in case his sleeper agent was indeed a double agent that was now working for Orochimaru.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Twenty minutes later….

Sasori arrived at Heaven and Earth Bridge; but before revealing himself to his sleeper agent who standing in the middle of the bridge, the red haired Kugutsu master inspected the area briefly to see if there was anyone else around and found that there was not.

Thus he approached the bridge, confident that while he no longer had Hiruko, that his agent would remember what he really looked like. At the time they were planted within Orochimaru's ranks, he had not started wearing Hiruko all the time, only when he fought someone.

The agent in question, a person who looked no older then Sasori himself, appeared and their identity was hidden with the use of the cloak they were wearing.

"Alright, I am here so you can take off that hood already," Sasori told his spy while approaching him from the right side of the bridge.

"Of course, Sasori-sama" the spy said as he removed his hood to reveal that he was none other then Kabuto Yakushi, Orochimaru's right hand man.

"Report to me what you have found out," Sasori ordered.

"At once, Sasori-sama, but might I asked what happened to your Hiruko puppet?" Kabuto replied.

"It was destroyed a month ago along with my strongest puppet, but I have managed to find one that replaced both of them," Sasori told him. "But, enough of this. Get on with your report," Sasori demanded.

Kabuto began to tell him new information he had learned about Orochimaru since their last meeting. With the speed rivaling a flash of lighting, Sasori was pierced through the heart by what appeared to be a katana extended from forest behind him. Sasori's body went limp on the sword as the only non replaceable part of his body(his heart) had to have been struck.

"What's the matter, Kabuto? We killed Sasori, so why do you look so shocked?" Orochimaru asked. Rather then removing his Kusanagi Sword immediately, he decided to let stay in Sasori's heart and twist it around a bit to make sure the guy was dead. The weakness of Sasori's immortality was that he still had his original heart and needed it to survive, unlike himself who simply need to a body to taken over.

"I see. You were a double agent after all," Sasori said as he grabbed the katana with one hand and placed another one over his heart then with a quick motion pulled it out and healed the damage done by the sword.

Once the sword was out he threw it and its owner across the bridge and into the wooden area on the other side.

"Interesting. You seem to have lost Hiruko, but gained this new puppet instead that you are in turn using like Hiruko," Orochimaru said, managing to land on his feet after Sasori's strike.

"So this is not Sasori then, Orochimaru-sama?" Kabuto asked as stood beside his master.

"No, this is nothing more then one of his human puppets. Of that much I am sure. There no way the real Sasori could survived a sword through the heart; however, the problem is: which one of them is it?" his master said while adding mentally, 'How was it able to repair itself like that? It's nothing more then hunk of wood containing charka!'

With his interest peeked, he dispelled the genjutsu on the Sasori in front of them. It was similar to the one that Tsunade used, leading him to be curious over a rumor that he overheard on the way here.

When the genjustu was dispelled, to say that the two sound nins were shocked would be an grave understatement.

Standing there was the pink hair puppet that was once Sakura Haruno, dressed in her maroon coat with its extra long sleeves and her unique dark maroon collar (the one that Ten Puppet Collection of Chikamatsu have).

"I heard that you had fought with Sasori and have been missing ever since, so this is what has become of you, eh, Sakura? Well, I cannot say that this was a result I was…." Kabuto said before he was cut by the wooden girl. She appeared before him and grabbed his head with her hands, which were claws at the moment thanks to her Iron Sand covering them. She then rammed Kabuto's head into her knee and as his head shot back from the impact of his skull on Sakura's knee. He was punched in the gut by Sakura's charka and Iron Sand-enhanced punch. Kabuto was sent flying off but did not get too far before Sakura's tail managed to grab hold of Kabuto's ankle, bring him back to punched in the gut, that send him flying once again, only to brought back and punched again.

From where Orochimaru was standing, it appeared that Sasori had the wooden Sakura treat Kabuto as if he were a yo-yo for about a minute before sending the right hand man flying into a nearby boulder. A sickening crack could be heard coming not from the boulder but from Kabuto, his bones breaking upon impact with the boulder.

"I don't know how you knew this girl, but I will not allow you to insult her skills when they were enough to destroy both Hiruko and my strongest puppet with help from my grandmother. Also she has done something that everyone else, even you and Slug Sanin, have failed at and that was to make an antidote to my poison," Sasori told him with his voice somehow sounding like it was coming from the pink hair puppet, even though her mouth was no longer moving. It was clear that Sakura imitating Sasori's mannerisms was just another part of the genjustu Sasori used on her.

"That girl makes one interesting human puppet. Its the only one I ever seen that can actually repairs itself," Orochimaru stated as Sakura repaired her knee, which had a dent in it the shape of Kabuto's head.

"That she does. Her medical abilities combine with her charka enhanced strength as well as the extras I have added on to her, making Sakura into probably my best creation to date," the Red Sand stated.

'Now I really must kill him. In doing this to the pink hair brat, Naruto-kun is bound to chase after him for her even if he is alone,' Orochimaru thought. The Akatsuki could not be allowed to get a hold of the Kyuubi.

Before he could get to Sasori, he would first have to go through the human puppet that stood before him. It seemed he knew Kabuto would be problem, thus the extreme measure that were used so that even with his unique ability to be able to reactivate dead cells and grow new ones, it would take him a long time to recover from the beating Sakura gave him.

"So you truly plan to have this puppet of yours attack bare handed with only some non-poisonous Iron Sand and tail as her only weapons?" Orochimaru said as Kabuto's unique ability would work against him if the Iron Sand and tail still contained poison.

"That's not problem. If you want a sword fight, she can give you a sword" Sasori said as voice was still coming from Sakura mouth yet she had move it an inch.

With a touch to her left forearm, Sakura pulled out one of her large swords that she brandish in front of herself before being made to attack.

Orochimaru was shocked as the Sakura was able to match him strike for strike as well dodge all of his strikes as well.

In one these exchanges, Sasori was able to have Sakura knock his Kusanagi Sword from his hand and hold firmly in place with her tail prevent it from moving. The snake Sanin was about to counter attack when found himself on the wrong edge of Sakura's huge sword.

'This girl, even before she was converted into her current state, must have been different from the way she was nearly three years ago,' Orochimaru thought. It was hard to believe that this was the same girl that he completely paralyzed with only his Killer Intent.

From staring at the wrong end of her sword, it was clear to see just how Sasori's grandmother was able to use her in the destruction of his two previous favorite human puppets.

Just when she was about to give the finishing blow to traitorous snake, a shield of Iron Sand appeared behind her and as a counter attack she swung her second sword at her new attacker.

"Well…Well…It seems that this is the result of what happened to you during your fight with Sasori. You became a puppet, the same thing that Naruto claimed I would become if I went to Orochimaru when we last met," Sasuke said as he blocked Sakura's sword with his own Kusanagi.

However Sasuke was quickly overpowered by Sakura's charka enhanced strength used to its fullest, thus sending the last Uchiha flying into forest and through a couple of trees.

"Where do you think you are going?" Sasori's voice said, still coming from Sakura's unmoving mouth at the now fleeing Sannin.

Making her throw the charka sealing orb at him, she was able to catch the snake with the cage. Yet he managed use his Oral Rebirth Technique at the last minute to escape before the cage completely cut off his charka.

Sasori was about to have Sakura chase after him when Sasuke returned and used something he called Chidori Senbon to cut the charka strings he had connected to Sakura to him. With no one controlling her, it was easy for Sasuke to push her over the bridge and into the ravine below.

Luckily, this was not a bad thing since Sasori happened to be in the ravine and managed to reconnect charka strings to Sakura before she fell too far down. Though it seem that Sasuke knew what happened, he did not purse after her since a two on one fight in ravine was something he wasn't willingly to do. One wrong move and his goal of avenging his family would over because he would most likely be dead.

0000000000000000000000000000000000

A half and hour later…

"It's about time you finally dragged you sorry butt up here," sneered Zetsu's white side.

"Yes, we have been waiting here for sometime now, waiting you to climb up," his black side informed the puppet master.

"Well, I was having Sakura make some repairs to herself. She got damaged a little during her fall," Sasori told him.

"This chick really is strong since using her you nearly managed take out the traitor Orochimaru, nearly killed his equally traitorous right hand man after using him as yo-yo, and over powered Itachi's snot nose little brother," Zetsu (white) said as he looking over Sakura.

"Sakura is my best creation to date, after all, and I would expect nothing less from her," Sasori told him as recalled her to her scroll.

"Well the reason I am here is to confirm what you probably already knew before coming here, that Kabuto is a traitor; but also to inform you, the next quota that the Leader has ordered you to come in with helping us gain enough money to complete part one of the master plan," the black side informed.

"Interesting. So I can gain the money any way I want, as long as I do not make too much of scene doing it?" he asked. Zetsu just nodded his head before vanishing into the ground.

'Well then, I guess it's time to earn some money,' Sasori thought to himself as leave the bridge in search of how to get enough money to meet the quota that the Leader had set for him.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000

I would like to thank:

RANMACAT and King Hawke for review my story

King Hawke for beta reading Chapter 04

Kenzuka and bigchillin for adding this story to their Alert List


	5. Adding to the collection

After the Battle of Tenchikyō, Sasori decided that it would be best if he simply got away from being so close to the Fire Country for awhile. It was Sakura's old home after all, thus it was possible that Konoha nin might see her or news would get around of her location while out on mission. Not that he was scared of the Leaf nins or anything, since he had taken out a whole country before. Yet, as learned through his fight with Sakura and reading over the information Sakura and written before her conversion into human puppet, they were not to be underestimated. So with this in mind, the red hair Kugutsu master headed over to the Land of Honey.

A few days later, Sasori was within a village inside the Land of Honey, having Sakura pose on street corner trying to attract anyone attention so she could lead them towards him and where he would then drill them for information about whatever bounty he was currently hunting. Bounty Hunting currently was best way he knew how to make money without causing that much of a scene that simply raiding this stupid little village would cause. He really did not like making Sakura degrade herself by making her look like hooker or some teenager trying to sell herself on street corner. Which was rather ironic, since converting her into human puppet and then using her as his own property could be consider ten time worse then her actually being a hooker or selling her body for cash.

The Red Sand was starting to get bored and was about to head over to a different corner when he noticed someone that he must add to his collection and any cost mission or not. This person was someone that he could not pass up in adding to his collection. The unfortunate person to catch the attention of the S-class missing nin happened to be Fubuki Kakuyoku, a Snow kunoichi, which probably caught Sasori's attention because of her appearance. Just like Sakura, she had pink hair, green eyes, and while she did not have a large forehead, there was two circles there on slightly large then normal one. The former servant of Doto Kazahana alongside her comrade Nadare Roga and Mizore Fuyukuma were all defeated by Team Seven when they came to the Snow Country as bodyguard for the actress Yukie Fujikaze, who was the true ruler of Snow Country.

Fubuki was defeated by Sasuke who sent her flying on a collision course with her partner, Mizore Fuyukuma, to which their chakra armor reacted in the form of an explosion. It was at the point that they were both considered to die in the explosion of their armors. While this may have been true for Mizore, who did in fact perish in the explosion, Fubuki however managed to survive because got out of her armor in time so that she did not take the full force of the blast which killed Mizore. In recent times, she had once again teamed up with some other kunoichi that were in the same boat as her, that being those that were defeated by Team Seven.

'To think they managed to defeat all of us; but in the end, it was not a force for the outside that managed to defeat them but from within,' Fubuki thought with a laugh as she heard how blond brat and annoying kid that almost killed her had tried to kill each other before the black hair one simply left his village for some reason.

The Snow kunoichi then felt someone tapping on her shoulder and turned to see that the pink hair brat was standing there dressed like a one of the locals. Though that was not what she was worried about as Sakura was may have tapped her shoulder with one hand but her other fist drove into her gut, instant knocking her out from the sheer force on the blow.

As Fubuki collapsed to the ground, Sakura was confronted with another person from her past. One of her partners who was Karenbana, a wandering ninja who was hired by Moon Country former minister the late Shabadaba and defeated by Sakura two and half years ago, saw what she did to her partner and threw a what appeared to be a custom smoke bomb on the ground. This smoke bomb was really more potent version of the odorless neurological airborne mist which she used confused the senses of her enemies. Ignorant to the fact Sakura was now a human puppet, she tried to use an improved version of her signature justu but sadly the result was exactly the same as their last battle.

Sakura was made to slam her fist directly into the same spot she had two and half years ago sending the short twenty five year old through a nearby wall rather then simply making a crater like last time. Upon falling to the ground, Sakura was made to look at the finally member of trio of kunoichi that beaten by Team Seven, Kujaku. Though Kujaku was really beaten by group of Suna and Kohona nins, Naruto and Sakura were among them. The Wind-element ninja from the Takumi Village with blue green hair and yellow bangs did not happen to see Sakura actually fight, so she was in shock at just how strong she was. This turned out to be her downfall because she was quickly knocked out by the pink hair puppet.

Hearing people coming to investigate the noise that Sakura's beating of three of her former adversaries caused, Sakura was made to take the trio of fallen kunoichi, one under each arm and the third being held by her tail, away.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Two weeks later…

Sasori was looking at the three newest additions to his collection, which were Karenbana, Fubuki, and Kujaku. Though he only took his time creating Fubuki because of her resemblance to Sakura, the conversion process took much longer then normal; since because he did not have a workshop here in the Land of Honey, he needed to gather the materials while the three kunoichi wrote down all their abilities under the influence of his free will stealing seal.

Karebana, who was originally a short hair brunette, now permanently had long white hair as the wig she wore was glued to her wooden head. Also, because Sasori had no idea that she was really twenty five year olds, in what would have been the ultimate insult to her, she would be grouped as one of his child human puppet, despite the fact she was twice the age of some kids were at the time of their conversion.

Though what Sasori saw from the beating he made Sakura give them was that they were a group, and thus he converted them to act as unit within his collection. Stripping puppets four, five, and eight of the Ten Puppet Collection of Chikamatsu of the needed components to perform the Three Buddhist Treasures Vacuum Destruction technique, he placed them within the trio of human puppet standing before him. Since they were charka using puppets, he was sure that the overheating problem that plagued the original user of this technique would not affect his trio of human puppets as much.

Though, since Fubuki has the same hair and eye color as Sakura he took his time converting her into a human puppet and though she could work with her comrade to perform the full force Three Buddhist Treasures Vacuum Destruction technique, he made her special in the fact that she could perform a low power and weaker version of it alone. Everything between her chest and hip were hollow which allowed her form the vacuum.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Though Sasori tried to go back to bounty hunting once again, he saw another person that would be perfect for his collection. This time it was a medical nin that he managed to find while he was looking for a target and abandoned the chase to capture and convert the medical ninja in order to make her his auto repairer, since Sakura could only repair herself.

However, the three hundred and four addition to his collection was not able to use continue using her medical jutsu as puppets to repair themselves (like Sakura) or other puppets like he desired. However, the human puppet was not a complete waste of his time and efforts. Unlike Sakura, whose charka now worked similar to the universal antidote she used in their battle, this medical nin had a prototype version of his poison that turned ordinary protein into deadly poison, which it could be injected directly into an opponent by using the Mystical Palm Technique as a weapon.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000

While Sasori may have abandoned his bounty to convert a medical nin into his three hundred fourth creation, things were not all that bad. While testing out the four newest additions to his collection, he got wind of another interesting bounty that was located in Fang Country which was for him with his puppet body just a two day trip from his current location.

Sasori, using his normal method, had Sakura take someone's clothes and made her enter the night club where his target was located. Through the club was crowded, Sasori was able to make his way in and spot where he or the charka strings controlling Sakura's movement would be easily be seen. Wearing a tube top and short shorts which would normally was something he wouldn't do because Sakura's obvious puppet joints would be visible for all to see. However that currently was a problem as he was having her use the same genjustu that her master uses to appear as though she in her thirties.

Being made to saucily walking over to the target which was which just happened to be Suzumebachi Kamizuru. Naruto and Team 8 minus Kurenai ran into the leader of the Kamizuru clan while looking for the Bikochu beetle. She was thought to have been killed by Naruto's Rasengan after she and her two Kamizuru clan member had been beaten by Hinata's Protection of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms technique. Well, she was not as right before she actually died. She was saved by a Kabuto who just happened to be passing by. As a way of repaying him for saving her life, she raided villages in the Land of Stone and sent a portion of what she took back to the Sound Village until just recently. Now she was notorious as leader of group bandits and thieves that she had rounding up for unknown reason. It also became known that she was bisexual, having found herself attracted to both guys and girls.

That was where Sakura current appearance came into play; she was being used to attract her attention.

Suzumebachi, never having met Sakura before thus having no idea who she was, noticed the advance that she was sending towards her. Although Sakura never talked anymore (most because she could not as she was not like Sasori after all) Sasori made her express herself and what she wanted from others with her body language. Rather quickly, Suzumebachi respond to her advance and some the two were on the dance floor dancing. After couple of dances, Sakura was made to pull Suzumebachi close to her during a slow dance and it was clear that the bisexual kunoichi was interested in Sakura. Sakura then was made to kiss the woman, thus making her first kiss which she had yet to get be with another woman. Shocked at first, the Kamizuru clan leader eventually relaxed and the two began making out there on the dance floor.

She was making out with the pink hair puppet like there was no tomorrow. The saying of doing something like there is no tomorrow proved all too true for Suzumebachi since, there was in fact, no tomorrow for her. What she did not know was that Sakura's tail which invisible because genjustu which was giving her the appearance of normal fifteen year old age was snaking it way up her body and stabbed her through the heart. Dying almost instantly brunette did not fall nor did her body go limp as Sakura was supporting. Also soon after she removed her tail from the brunette's chest, a seal was place on both sides to prevent blood from stain her clothes which were seals Sasori used to stop a person from dying of blood loss during the human puppet making process and just like Sakura's tail, they were invisible to everyone there. Though this seal had the extra uses of preventing dead people's charka network from stopping even after they were dead.

So Suzumebachi was dead, but to everyone in the club she was simply making out with the girl. When Sakura was finally made to stop kissing her, she tapped her forehead and ran off which to the people in the club it look that this was just a kiss and run. The real deal with what happen was that Sakura tap had placed another seal on her forehead which would now act as the will for the dead woman and instructions given to her brain were to head to one of the Akatsuki hideout in the Fang Country.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000

"Do you think the boss got captured and spent all this time escaping? It would be a valid reason. We have been able to get in touch with her for the last three days" a bandit asked not unknowing the truth about what happened to Suzumebachi.

"How should I know? All she said in the note was for all of us to meet her because she had something that she wanted us to do," a second bandit said.

Just then Suzumebachi appeared walking towards them they the notice that something was different about her. She was not wearing her normal clothes but a black cloak with brown fur collar and was behind a pink hair girl with similar clothes only with extra long sleeves and a different collar.

"Hey, boss, what's the deal with the new….what the hell!" the first bandit yelled as Suzumebachi lifted up her cloak and swarms of summon bees came flying out at them, stinging both the bandits repeatedly.

Before they could recover from the initial attack of their leader, the one next to her killed them with swift chop to the neck. Then Sakura and Sasori's three hundred fifth addition to his collection, Suzumebachi, was made to kill every member of her group thus allowing Sasori to collect the bounty on the group that was worth 100 million ryo. Sakura used her charka-enhanced strength, tail, and Iron Sand to slaughter anyone that got in her way while Suzumebachi was using her bees and the tenth puppet of Chikamatsu's collection's long extending cords. Just like the tenth puppet, big holes were in Suzumebachi's skull where the cords were stored and came out from. Though unlike the original holder of this weapon, Suzumebachi was not bald and still had her hair, making hidden weapon less obvious then before.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000

After collecting the bounty for his latest outing, Sasori was sitting down on a chair in the Akatsuki's hideouts within the Fang Country. Sakura was sitting naked inside of tub, covered in blood from head to toe. Even her pink hair had been dye red with the blood of bandits Sasori had made her and Suzumebachi kill to collect the group's hundred million ryo bounty.

While Sasori, with one hand, made Sakura go about washing off the blood with the other puppet, he remained busy reading through the scroll of Sakura had made for him over two months ago before her transformation into his favorite and strongest puppet ever. The information she had stored within her brain was more then just her combat and medical knowledge since she was the Fifth Hokage's apprentice; she had information on almost every clan in Konoha and her knowledge of their Justus as well. In this sense, Sakura (thanks the seal that removed her free will) had been forced to betray her home, but luckily, Sasori had yet to hand over the scroll to his superiors yet. He was interested in adding some of her friends to his collection when he felt the time was right to go about acquiring them.

Sakura herself would have been ashamed of what she had been doing over the last two months. The blood of hundreds of innocent lives with those numbers, including the bounties she had been made to kill, was on her hands. Her first kiss was something she had not even had yet, though she was looking was eagerly looking forward to it when it finally happened it was with Suzumebachi Kamizuru. Thus making so that, like Sasuke and Naruto, her first kiss was with someone of the same gender.

As Sasori was having Sakura clean herself of the blood of from her last use, he made her stop and turn to face him. She was then directed to pose in various ways since Sasori still could not get enough of seeing her body in all it glory and the knowledge that she would never grow old, never decrease in power or skill, and most importantly, that she was his own personal puppet was something he never got tired of.

Sasori then had Sakura poke her chest and while she might not have the large bust like other woman her age, he really did not care. Sakura's bust size was just perfect for her and fit in nicely with all her other features. Then there was her forehead, which he thought was not a flaw but actually one of her best features, along with her lovely pink hair which was rarity in the world. There were few people with natural pink hair wandering around and he owned two of them (the other being Fubuki Kakuyoku). This also lead to some of the nicknames of she had acquired amongst the bounties through numerous amount of country. Names that included: Pink Devil, Pink Death, or the Pink Hair Grim Reaper. Though this could prove to be dangerous to him, since her pink hair was such a rare thing with this world, it could lead her former comrades to where she might be or simply making it so that using her as his puppet had turned her into a missing nin. No one outside the Akatsuki other then Itachi's little brother, Orochimaru, and Kabuto knew that she simply a human puppet moving as he directed her so it would probably be the second one if anything.

Pleased for now, Sasori had Sakura go back to cleaning herself up, starting with washing that blood out of her hair, so it could regain it original pink color. Once finished, Sasori had Sakura dry herself off and then dress herself in the cloak that signified her as his three hundred creation.

"Bounty hunting is starting getting annoying" Sasori sighed to himself. It was too much trouble going about, searching for the target, using Sakura as way of luring people to him, than using her to kill whoever got in her way when he directed her to the bounty. What really annoyed him was that he couldn't keep the bounties he killed. He had run into so many bounties that would be perfect for his collection but he could not because to collect the bounty he had to hand over the body. Suzumebachi was the only exception; he simply kept her and converted her into one of his human puppets.

Just then, something on the floor under the table where Suzumebachi was sitting had caught his eye and he made the brown haired puppet pick it up and bring it over to him.

'Interesting, this might be better then gain money from bounty hunting,' Sasori thought as he read what was on the paper.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000

I would like to thank:

RANMACAT and King Hawke for review my story

King Hawke for beta reading Chapter 05

Enigmatic Igor for adding this story to their Story Alert List

Rudyseed for adding this story to their Favorite Story List

Also I would everyone else that has been read the original version of this story as it was at this point that the story had 3146 hits, been added to 2 C2 archives, was on 10 favorite list, and 9 people had added it to their Story Alert list.


	6. Shinobi Fight Club

Following the information given on the paper Sasori found himself traveling around Claw Country having his female puppets compete in something that was known as Shinobi Fight Club. Apparently this form of underground fighting, that no one really seemed to know where it originated, had become incredible popular. Yet the population at large was unaware because of the club's first two rules. The first being "you do not talk about Shinobi Fight Club" and the second being "Seriously DO NOT talk about Shinobi Fight Club."

While the fight themselves were free, it was completely okay for those that were watching to bet on who they thought would win, and the betting made at these fight clubs could easily reach the hundred thousands level since it was various shinobi (include famous and infamous ones) from various countries were taking part in these fights.

The two rules were what Sasori liked about these Shinobi Fight Clubs since nobody talked about them. He could simply kill everyone there and take all their valuables for himself and not have to worry about causing a scene because none of the people he killed had informed anyone else of where they were going. It would simply be a case of people disappearing into thin air.

At first, this is exactly what he did; however, that got old fast and for a club that no one was supposed to be talking about, other fight clubs sure did catch on fast. He also got caught as the rumored fight club killer once. So rather then simply kill everyone and then take everything of value from them. He decided to do less violence and a more forceful way.

This was were Sakura, Suzumebachi, Karenbana, Fubuki, and his medical nin puppet came into play as rather then using them to kill the people at the clubs like he had been doing. He changed things up and used them to steal from everyone at the club without them being none the wiser.

Sakura and Fubuki were made to take part in the fights against ninjas there and attract huge crowds and bets on their fights. The fights were long and drawn out as each pink hair human puppet was made to use all their abilities to make sure that the fight were always going as Sasori wanted. Sakura would be made to secretly use her tail and ability to change the strength of her blow at will to either draw out the fights for as long as possible or simply end them in a quick manner when going up against someone that was the favorite to win.

While Fubuki was made to use her miniature version of the Three Buddhist Treasures Vacuum Destruction to push or pull her opponent towards or away from her as well as the fact that her name was well known with those attending these Fight Club thus causing the bet to be higher then with Sakura who was pretty much a unknown here.

Suzumebachi was made to roam around them, watching the fight, and while she was hanging all over them, Sasori had her take their money and other valuables and hide them within her hidden compartments on her wooden body. At first he thought of using another one of his human puppets but it was soon made clear that no one was notice that she was once Suzumebachi Kamizuru or even ask for her name.

His medical nin human puppet was doing what she did while she was human and that was being a medical nin. Though rather then healing the fighter, she was really poisoning them thus making rigging the fights to go whatever way that Sasori wanted them and also using her to take the fighter he wanted for his collection or simply turn them in for the money on their heads.

Karenbana's role in all this (which is really something she would have insulting) was the role of a genin that just happen to watching the fights since there were a number of genins some looking like they just got of the academy there as well. However, the real reason was she stood close enough to the ninja that Sasori had not bet on was so that her odorless neurological perfume could affect their senses enough thus leaning the odds in his favor.

As for how Sasori was going about controlling all these puppets individually that was actually rather easy. After all Sasori was able to control a hundred puppets at once so simply control five was not that much of a challenge for him. He simply pretended that he could not use one arm and seemly non working arm was the one that he used to control his five human puppets at the same time.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000

However, money was not the only thing that he racked up on. The money he made from Sakura's and Fubuki's fight, the stolen goods, and cash he had his other human puppets get. Sasori also managed to find quite few that he consider adding to his collection and also came up with an interesting idea for a new technique.

While Sasori did not have respect for human live as evidenced by him making people in human puppet both while they were still alive or shortly after they had died. He did however have respect for those that he considered strong and the few people that he respected for the strength were his superiors, Sakura, his grandmother, and the creator of Kugutsu Chikamatsu Monzaemon. His Red Secret Technique: Performance of a Hundred Puppets was attempting to prove that he could create a technique was better then the White Secret Technique: Ten Puppet Collection of Chikamatsu. Yet the battle with Sakura and his grandmother opened his eyes to something. He may have managed to take down a country with a hundred puppets but those he was fighting against were not ninjas for the most part and those that were did not have any real exceptional skills.

Sakura, his grandmother, and only twelve puppets had managed to take down two of his strongest puppets and then hundred puppets in less then two hours. Thus Sasori noticed if he were to try old Red Secret Technique on group of ninjas with exceptional skill then it was possible that the same result would come about for that fight as well. So he decided to create a new Red Secret Technique, one that would make so that he could do with seven puppets what he once did with one hundred.

That was how Red Secret Technique: Seven Kunoichi of Destruction came into existence. Using the weapons and skill from the original puppets of Chikamatsu's collection, Sasori went about adding them to the human puppets so that he could have a unit that worked together then simply trying to overwhelm his opponent with numbers which he found out the hard way did not always work.

The human puppet that were include in the Red Secret Technique: Seven Kunoichi of Destruction were all store in single scroll where he could summon them all at once or just the one that he needed at the time. The only exception to this was Sakura who while part of his new Red Secret Technique still had her own special scroll like she always had.

Other then Sakura the other puppet that were included with his new technique were Karenbana, Fubuki, and Kujaku who took the place of Chikamatsu's puppets four, six, and eight. Suzumebachi took the place of puppet ten. His medical nin, who was once known as Ami, had been retooled so that she could extend her arms (like Puppet two) to form a sort of cage where it can launch and rather then unleash bombs (since Sakura had them in her right hand), she let out her poisonous charka instead. Also he gave her the combat skill of this puppet which was proficient at taijutsu.

The final puppet in Sasori's new Red Secret Technique was named Fuki and her role was to serve as back up for Sakura and Fubuki. She had the immense striking power of Chikamatsu's first puppet as well as its large fists, but this was her only means of attacking. To make it so that she was not strictly a short range fight the chain and charka blade of puppet five and nine, he felt that he got rid of the weakness of the original three puppets by adding all their strengths into one.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000

I would like to thank:

King Hawke and RANMACAT for review my story

King Hawke for beta reading Chapter 06


	7. Shinobi Fight Club Pt 02

It had been about two months since Sasori started getting his money and the newest addition to his collection from various Shinobi Fight Clubs. The first two rules really worked to his advantage. He just got the drop on one of the targets for his collection while they were returning home through the use of back alley. Missing person reports were later made, but they were never found because the authority would be looking in all the wrong places. Even when one managed to see someone from the reports walking under his control, they were unable to report since that would be violating the first two rules of Shinobi Fight Club and the consequences of that were not pretty; he managed to see them for himself one time.

The latest fight club he had been scamming for a long time solely because of two reasons. One was the amount of gullible patriots that seem to be so well off they did not seem to care that they mysteriously had lesser money on them when they left then when they had arrived. The second was the fighters and spectators that attended here were all too good to pass up for being added to his collection.

As the immortal Kugutsu master walked into the club, he had Sakura hanging on his left arm with her head on his shoulder as he made her walk next to him with his right thumb. As his favorite, he also controlled like this because he valued her more then other puppets that he had in his collection. She dressed in short sleeved dark maroon t-shirt with large sleeveless maroon shirt that extended to her hips over that. Also on her the back of her shirt, rather then the white torus that he guessed was her family crest or something, it was the red and white crest of Sasori's own creation which signified that she belonged to him.

Following a few paces behind Sasori and her was Fubuki Kakuyoku. His three hundred third creation was one that he consider his second favorite on the sole fact that her appearance was similar to Sakura. Usually he did not come in at the same time as his puppet would, yet for this fight club, he simply felt like it because there were too many people that came onto Sakura in this club and it was pissing him off; Sakura belonged to him and him alone. Thus what he was doing now was to show this fact to everyone here and he did not feel like killing off everyone here that tried to laid claim to his cherry blossom solely because they there were too many good cash cows and potential puppets here at this club. Maybe when he was done milking this place of all it was worth he would do that and make those that tried to come onto his Sakura die painful death.

"You are in the way. Move," Sasori said bluntly as well dressed man stood in his way.

Ignoring Sasori the man turned his attention towards Sakura

"So you abandoned your village to become a fighter for this guy, huh?" the man said to Sakura.

Sakura for her part did not respond or even look in his direction because she could not move or act on her own anymore being a human puppet and all. Though the man talking to her had no idea that she was no longer human but simple a puppet under a genjustu that made her look human so he took offense to this.

"Hey, wrench, I am talking to….yyyyoooooouuuuuu!" the man said as he attempted to slap her but Sasori made her hand shoot out grabbing his and lightly crushing it in what appeared to be a simple hold.

"I see that you gotten stronger in the last three years, but you're not the only one that has gotten stronger," a man that was thought to be dead said as he made his presence known to her. Though he did notice how Sakura grabbed his boss's hand and moved her head an inch.

"Aoi Rokusho, so you survived the beating you were given by my cherry blossom old team and still working for the former head Wagarashi family. What happened after climbing up that cliff? He was only one that could give you work?" Sasori asked as he remembered reading about this in the scroll he made Sakura write before converting her.

"That none of your busi…." Wagarashi Kyuuroku managed to say while still nursing his injured hand but interrupted by Aoi.

"So, she's your 'cherry blossom' now, huh? Is that why she's hanging on you like that?" Aoi laughed at the name he called her as in brief moment of anger overcame the red hair puppet master that almost made him to have Sakura kill him where he stood.

"This worthless girl had to depend on her teammate to beat me and my team, and despite whatever training she might had in the last three years, she is probably no match for me and my repaired Sword of the Thunder God" Aoi boasted, ignorant to how close to death he was putting himself by talking like this.

"What was that? Would you like to see just how wrong you are about her?" Sasori demanded. He got angry that this scum was insulting Sakura's skill like this.

"Of course, the two of us had been itching to get some revenge on her team and might as well start with the weakest member then we move on the weak Uchiha teammate of hers before finally get to that blond brat," the black hair former Rain nin said.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Within the ring the two fighters stood ten feet away from each other. Aoi staring with vengeful glare at Sakura while the pink hair girl simple stood there in her usually fighting stance with same blank expression on her face that she always had.

A referee (a retired ninja) then appeared between the two in puff of smoke.

"In our first fight for the night, we have the new coming rising star of the Shinobi Fight Club circuit, the fighter that is as beautiful as a finely created sculpture and with personality as cold as harsh as winter in the Snow Country. She's as strong as she is calculating, also managing to find the right spot to knock her opponents out cold. The one, the only, Demon Fist Sakura!" the referee said as crowd behind them cheered her own.

"And her opponent tonight, already well known to many other clubs within the Fight Club circuit as Thunder God for his use of the famous sword of the Second Hokage and his own powerful lightning based attack, is the former Rain ninja Aoi Rokusho!" the ref announced as the cheers he got were not as much as Sakura, mostly because where Sasori had made a name for her, he was the one controlling her after all.

"You both know the rules so on the count of three you may begin fighting. 1...2...3...FIGHT!!!" the referee yelled then disappeared in buff of smoke to safer location to over see the fight.

"What the matter, little girl? Are you just going to stand there and not come at me? I want to see you use this so called Demon Fist of yours!" Aoi laughed as mistook Sakura stillness as her unwillingness to start the fight.

"Fine if you will not come to me, than I'll come to yo….." the black hair ninja said as activated the Sword of the Thunder God only to see that Sakura had vanished and reappeared right under him.

Aoi moved his sword to block her striking, thinking there is no way her fist alone could be enough to break his sword since took two A-rank jutsu to do it the last time. What he did not know was that Sakura's strength could equal that of A-rank jutsu and possible S-rank jutsu when Sasori made her use her charka enhanced strength and Iron Sand to its fullest extent.

Sakura's punch not only broke the blade but the kept going until it hit Aoi's chin and he was send flying through the roof as Sakura was made to fully extend her arm almost turning the punch into uppercut. Sasori then had Sakura bring out her sword and hold it out beside her. For awhile the audience was in shock since they did not understand the meaning behind this act. It was soon made clear when the force of gravity finally caught up with Aoi and he was send plummeting back down to the ground; what interrupted his body from hitting the ground was that it landed on Sakura's sword with the blood the gusted from his body splattering all over Sakura's face and clothes.

Not finished with the dying if not dead already Aoi, Sakura was made to remove him from her sword and then shove her right hand down his throat as far as it could it could go before release one of her bomb in there. She then stood there as Aoi's body exploded and it possible to see Sakura's hand through the hole that the bomb made. Being made to remove her hand, Sakura then was made to crush what bone hadn't already been crushed in Aoi's head.

"…………" was the pretty much on the mind of everyone watching as they knew that they were in something similar to this but it been awhile since they had seen Sakura totally destroy her opponent without at least giving them a show first.

"………..Your winner, Demon Fist Sakura" Referee said but he did not appear in the ring because they did not want to get in the way of Sakura while she was like this.

Sasori on the other hand looked over the sign before with grin on his face as this was that bastard deserved for not only insulting his cherry blossom skill but the nickname he called her by.

With phase one of his plan complete, Sasori looked over to where Aoi's employer looked on in shock at just how fast and easy that his hired muscle was killed. Little did his know that the two women he had hanging all over him were two of his civilian human puppets.

One, as it turned out, had been used by an Akatsuki member before. Emi was her name while she was human though no longer as now she was just human puppet two hundred seventy. Emi had been an attractive citizen of the Fire Country because of a Genjutsu spell by Itachi to lure Jiraiya away from Naruto's side three years ago. Then three years later, she caught the attention of another Akatsuki member who unfortunately for her happened to be Sasori, thus Emi became a permanently a tool of the Akatsuki. As a civilian human puppet of Sasori, she was being used in similar way that Itachi made her come to Jiraiya. Only now she was being made to steal money and kill when it called for it.

The second disguised human puppet hanging on Kyuuroku was once known as Tsubaki. She was at one point a Genin from Naruto's class that viewed Naruto as the demon fox itself, and looked down upon his existence. She left Konoha for Claw Country sometime after the Sound/Sand invasion, disgusted that people were forgetting who Naruto was. With her child already being KIA, she no longer had reason to stay here so she moved. The move turned out to be a bad choice as the group she was with was attacked and killed by Sasori who was looking for new puppets to add to his collection at the time. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending who point of view you look from, Tsubaki was taken and became Sasori two hundred eighty ninth human puppet.

However, unknown to Sasori, both he and the fight that had just ended were being watched by the bounty hunter Sazanami who had formed a partnership with old acquaintance of his that was looking for Sasori to make up for a mistake that they had made.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000

I would like to thank:

King Hawke and RANMACAT for review my story

SPK for reviewing Chapter 01

King Hawke for beta reading Chapter 07


	8. Enter Naruto

In various place around the elemental countries, there exist places where people can meet in complete privacy without having to worry about anyone or anything spying on them. It was unknown where, how, or who designed these places, but no one, not even the strongest, crafty, or most fastest ninjas in history, have been able to get into or spy on those that enter these places. Though, because the location of them was unknown, they were mostly regarded as rumors and nothing more. If a place is so well hidden that it can completely avoid detection or had worry about being spy on if you did not know exactly where you go, you would probably never find one.

However, that was not the case with Sazanami's partner. For some reason, he had managed to stumble upon on these places and learned how to locate others. Thus these became their meeting place and, for someone so young, his partner sure did have a lot powerful and deadly people after them.

"Hello, Sazanami-san, it's good to see that you have managed to make it here," a blue eye girl with long blond hair kept in ponytail that ran to the almost all the way down her back greeted him politely. The tone that she used was elegance and made her seem like she was from some noble family.

"You know, it's possible for you to cut the act already as no one's going to see us here. This place is famous for give complete privacy, after all," Sazanami told her.

"Of course I know that. I was just doing it because it annoys you and it's funny how well something like this actually works," the girl laughed as her voice was completely different from before sounding more like something you hear from a tomboy.

"If you are going to drop the act, then why haven't you dropped that Henge already so we can discuss serious business? I finally found that flower you've been looking for," the brown haired bounty hunter told them.

"Alright then, tell me everything you know," the blond asked as it was at this moment that all the game and playing around stopped. Her face went completely serious and then in puff of smoke revealed that she was really Naruto Uzumaki, who had for the last four and half months seem to just vanish off the face of the planet and no one knew where he went or what happened to him.

As for how Naruto even began his partnership with Sazanami or when he even left Konoha for that matter all started three months ago when rumors of a new pair of bounty hunters made their way towards Konoha.

Flashback to three months ago

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

'Sakura-chan, where did that bastard Sasori take you?' Naruto thought as he walked through Konoha.

It had been a month since Naruto had taken part in the mission to rescue the current Kazekage, former jinchuuriki, Gaara of the Desert. Officially the mission was a success thanks to efforts of Naruto and Chiyo. Usually went a person has the demon sealed up inside them, removing it leads to that person's death. Gaara was no exemption to this rule and he did die right after he had the Shukaku was removed from his body; however, Chiyo giving her own life and Naruto helping her when discovered her life alone was enough that Gaara was brought back from the dead. However to Naruto, the mission was a failure, and while he was glad that Gaara was still alive and all, he had failed to up hold the rule that he learned the day he truly became a genin of Konoha. The rule being 'Those that do not obey the rules are trash however those that abandoned the teammates are worse then trash.'

Naruto had been funk since then as it was his fault that Sakura was now probably the prisoner of that Akatsuki member or worse. If only he had listened to Kakashi-sensei and did not run off in anger like he had, then Sakura would probably still be here with them. After bringing Gaara back from the dead, he went back the area where he had left Sakura. There was nothing there but signs of what looked like a pretty big battle that occurred and blood splashed across the ground in different places that was later confirmed to be Sakura's along with her forehead protector.

Naruto's ears then perked up when two people walked by talking about the latest rumor which never caught his attention until now.

"Did you hear the story about that new pink hair bounty Hunter the Pink Death? I think that's what she's being called. She's said to have monstrous strength from the huge sword she swings around as easily as person using a fan to cool themselves off in the summer sun," a villager said.

"I know. I heard she took out the Nagare gang by herself and that she's called the Pink Devil because not only she does she fight like in battle but is she as seductive as one too," a second village said.

After hearing this, Naruto rushed off to Tsunade to demand to be sent on a mission to see if this person was Sakura. She was the only pink hair girl he knew with the exception of that snow kunoichi that attacked Team Seven three years ago during their mission in the Land of Snow.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000

"Denied," Tsunade told Naruto as she rejected his attempt to get a team together to look into the rumor which might possible lead to Sakura's whereabouts.

"What do you mean denied, baa-chan? Sakura-chan is your apprentice! You should want her back as much as I do!" Naruto yelled in anger though simply mentioning that Tsunade did not care about Sakura, who she almost thought of in the same capacity as Naruto, turned out to be the wrong thing to say.

The whole Hokage building then shook as Naruto was seen flying off into the distance after getting punched in the gut by a fully serious and pissed off Tsunade.

"Ummm….Tsunade-sama, don't you think that you overdid as that? That might have been a little too much, even for Naruto," Shizune asked cautiously.

"That kid does not understand it. It's not that I do not want to look for Sakura; it's that keeping her as MIA rather then a missing-nin thanks to this new pink hair bounty hunter with strength similar to hers difficult nothing as it is. Then there is the fact that Aktasuki could be waiting for Naruto to come after her and lure him into situations where the idiot would probably pick Sakura over his own life," Tsunade sighed.

"Though, you know, Naruto is even more serious about looking for Sakura then for Sasuke and you never hear him talk about the Uchiha anymore," Shizune pointed out.

"That's because Sakura is more important to him then Sasuke. Naruto has managed to gain many people that he considers precious to him ever since he has become a ninja, like Sasuke, you, that old perverted teammate of mine, and me for example. However, among those people, there are those that he considers his most precious people and Sakura happens to be on the top of that list or at least within the top five. Sasuke is close to him but the one major reason he even wants to get Sasuke back is because Sakura asked him to do so. Sure Naruto has his own reason, but I think that Sakura asking him bring Sasuke back and later saying they would do it together is what had made Naruto train so hard for all this time," the Fifth Hokage sighed.

While Shizune looked toward the hole Naruto made with worried expression on her face, both Naruto and Sakura had been very dear to her as well, with both of them becoming like young siblings for her.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000

The next day…..

"Tsunade-sama, bad news," Shizune said as she rushed into the Hokage Office.

"Do not tell that idiot did what I think he did," the blond woman asked but feared that she already knew the answer to the question.

"I am afraid so; it seems that Naruto had left the village alone to go search for Sakura himself, but luckily, it seems that no one knows that he is missing yet," Shizune reported.

"That's good. If someone else had found this out first, my plan would not have worked," the slug sannin sighed as she pulled out a scroll from her desk and then stamped with the Hokage's seal.

"Tsunade-sama, is that what I think it is?" Shizune asked.

"Yeah, this should protect the brat from becoming a missing nin but when he gets back I am going to give him a punch that make the one I gave him the other day seem like a love tap!" Tsunade growled. She could not believe that he had done something this stupid.

Somewhere outside Konoha…

Naruto stood looking back with his hand to his forehead where his hiate was once wrapped around. He stopped wearing it, not only because he did not want people to know where he was from as that could alert hunter nin (unknown to Naruto though Tsunade expected this so he was not one at least not at the moment). Another reason he had stopped wearing his hiate was he believed that he really did not deserve to wear it anymore as he left one of his teammate behind. According to Kakashi-sensei that made him worse then trash and he felt that until he found Sakura and brought her back, he should not wear his hiate again. Also, along with him he had Sakura's forehead protector with him as a reminder of who he was looking for and the mistake he had would fix even it cost him his life.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

End Flashback

Thus, that's how Naruto began looking for Sakura himself and to avoid being noticed while he was doing, Naruto proved once again why he was called Konoha's number ninja at surprising people by realizing that simply using Oiroke no Jutsu but putting clothes on, taking away his whiskers marks, and changing his hairstyle and attitude left everyone none the wiser. It was a month after he left Konoha that he ran into Sazanami and the two teamed up as Naruto helped him in clearing his good name so he wanted to help him in finding his missing teammate.

"Shinobi Fight Clubs, I've never heard of them before," Naruto said as Sazanami told him where he saw Sakura.

"You are not supposed to, as the first two rules are not to talk about it," he explained.

Then how did you learn about these Fight Clubs if no one is suppose to talk about them?" then Naruto asked curiously.

"The first two rules may be not to talk about Shinobi Fight Club but they do not say anything about making sure you are not followed to them. I simply followed after a person that later tried to 'convince' me to get the information I was looking for as well as what they knew about your friend's role there."

"So, are you sure that it was Sakura you saw there?" the blond asked as this was the best solid lead they had in months.

"Of course, though she seemed aloof and cold as she never talked or displayed the slightest hint of emotions. She also was acting very brutal as she punched her opponent, Aoi Rokusho, through the roof and then held out her huge sword which impaled him once he came down. Throughout the whole time, her expression never changed from its expressionless state even once," Sazanami told him.

"Who's the guy that she was with? I am sure that guy is Sasori or can lead me to the guy since Sakura's strange behavior might be his fault," Naruto said anger causing his body shake as it was not possible that her personality could naturally change that much in just four months.

"Never seen him before but he was very protective and possessive of your teammate and she was hanging on his shoulder or sitting on his lap between her fights. He also had another girl that same hair color and eyes. But she was always few feet behind him," Sazanami informed.

"Well to find out who this guy is, all I need to do is get Sakura away from him and then figure out how she can be changed back to her normal self again," Naruto told him. It was time to pay this guy a visit and then drill them for Sasori's location if possible.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000

I would like to thank:

King Hawke, RANMACAT, and clockworkchaos for review my story

kenzuka for adding this story to their Alert List

King Hawke for beta reading Chapter 08


	9. Exit Sasori

'Hopefully leader does not pair me up with any one again. It's more peaceful and easier to get my assignments done without a partner. They would just slow me down, after all, since they would need to stop for things like food, sleep, and other things that those with human bodies must do. Also I would have to hear them go on and on about their misguided views of simple bombs being works of fine art or how they want to kill someone beyond their ability in their sleep. Then again, I could end up with another weirdo that snoops around my stuff looking for the secret of how I made myself into a human puppet but remain self aware and able to use chakra or being caught reading through the scroll I have my human puppet's abilities stored on,' Sasori thought while laying on Sakura's lap and looking up at the clear blue sky.

Sakura had a fight to get to in about an hour and he did not feel like it. He simply did not feel like going the Fight Club yet, so he decided to just stay where he had spent the previous night, looking up at the stars all night and then the clouds once the night had given way to day.

'Hopefully an interesting person or ninja will come along today that I can add to my collection. It's starting to get boring over there. None of those fighters are match for my cherry blossom and her beautiful yet inferior twin,' Sasori thought to himself as he made Sakura pat him on the head, giving the illusion that she was trying to comfort him. (The inferior twin being Fubuki who now had her hair styled like Sakura so they looked even more alike then before)

The peaceful yet somewhat strange time Sasori was having making Sakura stroke his head and then play around in his hair was interrupted by a ninja that popped out from behind a tree.

"I finally found you, Sakura Haruno. Now it's time to get back at you for ruining my revenge against Kakashi three years ago for my stealing my woman six years ago," a man who dressed liked ninja from the Haze village shouted.

Though Sakura could offer no response to anything people said to her without Sasori making her, people still talked to her directly because of the genjustu cast on her that made her appear like normal girl and not the human puppet she had been for almost five months now.

"Haze ninja….oh that's right, I remember where I saw your name before," Sasori said as he knew he heard something like this before.

"I see you heard of us boys, but I am not that surprised as we are the famous Moyanin Brothers!" the first Haze ninja said as two more appeared beside him and he posed in the center while the two beside posed like the characters that made up the word 'Moya'

"Yes, I remember the Moyanin brothers. It was something that my cherry blossom wrote down. You three nobodies had run in with Kakashi and got your asses handed to you, then three years later you three tried to get revenge on him yet thanks my dear Sakura's quick thinking she blame you three for her team failed attempt to rip their sensei's mask off. Kakashi then went and kicked your asses again in the exact same manner as the first time," Sasori said as sat up to speak with them in more proper manner.

"You there, the guy in the middle, do you really have poison that makes people laugh and cry until you die?" Sasori inquired as that was whole reason she even mention these loser as a year later Sakura went back to those place and her how poison caused a frog and horse to died from the hiccups and crying. This was the only reason she had even mentioned these loser while writing down her ninja knowledge.

"Indeed, though I have gotten better over the last three years as this dart contains all three poisons and, Sakura, you will die while laugh, hiccupping, and crying the whole time," the Leader of the Moyanin Brother said as he threw the dart at straight at Sakura.

The dart which was thrown faster then Sasori first thought struck Sakura in the middle of her forehead and cause her to fell backwards from the sheer amount of force that put behind the throw and her own inability to resist the dart pushing her backwards.

"You did it, Anki! You finally got you revenge on Sakura. Now all that left is to get revenge on Kak…Kak…" the man to the left of his brother and leader said before breaking down into fit of laughing, crying, and hiccupping as the dart was no longer in Sakura's forehead but imbedded within his chest.

"You three," Sasori said as killing intent coming off him was enough to make then crap their pants which they did but the clothes concealed it.

"You dared to damage my precious cherry blossom. That's it. I do not care about possible loss of the knowledge of your poison anymore as you two are going down right now," Sasori stated as his blades arms appeared from behind him, promising the two still standing Moyanin Brother a world of pain.

Ten minutes later….

Sasori was gone and the Moyanin Brothers were for third time in six years hung from a tree with the three all bundled up and swinging from it. However, Sasori was not Kakashi as there was not curse and yelling about how they were in position again or how they now wanted revenge on Sasori. No, the three Moyanin Brothers were dead as he used one of them as the rope and wrapped the other two up around the first. Also blood was pouring on the ground like some kind of weird waterfall or fountain as the three were full of more holes then a slice of Swiss cheese.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

'Great, punishing those idiots and making Sakura repair her forehead took longer then I thought,' Sasori grumbled as he had to place Sakura back into her scroll to make it to the Club in time for her fight.

The red hair puppeteer then noticed that one branch he grabbed had actually grabbed him back and hurled him into the air. Then before he could regain his sense of what was going on, an orange blur shot past him and high power kick was slammed into his stomach, causing him to rocket towards the ground, leaving a crater upon impact and the scroll being let loose from its holding place.

'Great, just who is trying to pick a fight with me now? I'm really not in good mood,' Sasori thought as began to get out the crater only see who had attacked him.

"Ahhh…so it was you, the Kyuubi jinchuuriki. I see that you finally decide to show yourself after five months," Sasori said.

"So you know about the Kyuubi. I'm guessing that means that you are a member of the Akatsuki then. So all I need to do is beat the hell out of you until tell me where Sasori is keeping Sakura and how to change her personality back to normal again," Naruto said cracking his knuckles.

Sasori then began laughing which then got him a punch in the jaw and sent sailing into a tree as result.

"My…my…my, you seem to have the wrong idea about what's going on. I have done nothing to my cherry blossom's personality since she has not had one for almost five months now and you are about to see why," Sasori said as he reached before for Sakura's scroll and held out for Naruto to see.

He could hear the blond growling about his nickname for Sakura but that did not matter because she belong to him regardless of what he thought and will continue to long after he was dead from having Kyuubi taken from him.

"Before your reunion with her, I think I should let you know that if you want to fight with Sasori, then look no further. Here I am," the red hair human puppet said as the smoke burst from the scroll, leaving Naruto to prepare himself for whatever puppet Sasori had summoned from that.

From what he learned about puppeteer ninjas during his search was that their puppets come in variety of shapes and sizes. Though what was summoned was the last thing he would have ever expected. The smoke slowly cleared to reveal a slender figure in a long maroon coat with a large pale maroon collar and extra long sleeves. Yet, Naruto's attention was draw to the hair of the puppet, which seemed to stand out against that maroon outfit the puppet was dressed in.

"This is my three hundred creation and she was created to replace my two favorite puppets which have been destroyed. However, since then, she has far surpassed my former favorites in all categories and is by far my greatest creation ever, if I do say so myself," Sasori said as he went on and on about her.

"I do not care about some puppet you made to look like Sakura. I want to know where the real Sakura is and beat both you and that fake Sakura puppet of yours until you do," Naruto told him as he was began using a little bit Kyuubi's power unknowingly. Little did Naruto realize how wrong he was about the Sakura before him being just a wooden copy.

"The real Sakura you say? Why, you are looking at her right now as this puppet is really her," Sasori told him. "She is my three hundred creation and I took my time to make sure that as a puppet she looked exactly as when she was human."

Sasori watched with an amused smirk on his face as he watched Naruto's expression change for shock to pure horror as he explained in detail about how he turned Sakura in a human puppet. Naruto bent over and the contents of his stomach came rushing up and out his mouth, splashing all over the ground before him.

With the latest bit of information, Naruto was conflict with himself, as he did not know what to do right now. Sure he had found Sasori and Sakura yet instead of captor and hostage like he was expecting, it was puppet and puppeteer. Though he wanted to beat Sasori into the ground for doing this to Sakura, to do so, he would have to get past Sakura in her current form.

Naruto was shaken out of his thoughts by expressionless face of puppet Sakura appearing before his eyes. She was made to pull out Naruto's hand and deposited something within it. She was then direct her into kissing his cheek before jump back. Her former teammate did not pull himself together in time to realized what Sakura had given him was one of her bombs or move in time before it exploded thus sending Naruto flying towards a tree.

'Okay I just need to….huh,' Naruto thought. Before he managed to get up, he felt something wrap around his ankle pull him back toward Sakura who was made to give him and bone crushing bear hug.

"I know that you must have missed my cherry blossom, and she probably would have missed you two if she had been aware these past five months from the way she wrote about you in her scroll. So being the nice guy that I am, I will allow her to hug you," Sasori said as this was weird way of honoring Sakura's feelings towards Naruto while she was still human.

"Sakura, not some thing you claim ownership of despite what you have done to her," Naruto growled angrily even though Sakura was still crushing him with her super bear hug.

"No, you are the one that wrong as my cherry blossom, my Sakura belongs only to me and she does whatever I want her to because of that," Sasori yelled making the pink hair bash Naruto in the head, leaving the blond dizzy and unprepared for the one two uppercut that followed.

As Naruto got back on his feet after that last blow, it reminded him of the time Tsunade had beat him when the first met. However then something came as a thought to him. 'If she was a human puppet, then maybe there stills a chance that she could be turned back to normal; all that I have to do was beat Sasori without harming Sakura,' he thought.

This was easier said then done as he could not seem bring himself to fight Sakura at the moment and possible harm her more then this bastard had already, but she was being used as his puppet; so in order to get to Sasori, he would logically have to take out Sakura first. Yet that was out the question so he would simply have to dodge what Sakura threw at him and focus on Sasori.

0000000000000000000000000000000000

An hour later….

"You certainly put up quite fight against me, despite the fact that kept trying to ignore my puppet and focus on me," Sasori said as he looked down on the beaten and broken Naruto that was being held against a boulder from the shoulder on down by Sakura's chakra sealing orb currently in it fully released cage form.

Naruto said nothing in response other trying to push this thing Sakura trapped him in off.

"You are wasting your time as you would have to naturally have the strength of my cherry Blossom or your Hokage in her prime to get this off you since it steal your ability to use chakra," Sasori informed him.

'This kid must have really cared for her to go to this far,' he thought. A smirk appeared on his face, as he knew what he had plan was definitely going to get a mixed reaction out of Naruto though he had to admit he was interested it see just what would happen.

Sasori had Sakura come over and caress Naruto's face before making her kiss him passionately on the lips. Then Naruto learned that despite being a puppet Sakura still had a fully functional tongue as her own wooden one was made to forcefully play with his own. Then she was work her way down to his shoulder before finally be made to stop.

Naruto was enraged as this point as that was his real first kiss (from Sakura at least) and it was wasted while she was like this similar to his first kiss he ever had period (which was with Sasuke).

Though if Naruto was enraged now, what would happen next would seen him into a rage that he did not even know was possible for him.

Sakura was then made to take off her cloak and left it fall behind her in large pile. Naruto just stared in shock as Sakura puppet stood there in the buff and soon Sasori direct her to place her bare wooden bosoms in Naruto face and rubbed them back and forth over his face again and again.

"You do not have to worry about splinters as I made sure that Sakura's wooden body is always completely smooth and free of any imperfections," Sasori said as he then began made remove her breast from his face and started making her pose in seductive ways while she still had absolute nothing on.

"Since you're going to die after we remove the Kyuubi from you and you seem to care for this girl like I do but not as much of course, I thought that I would let you see her in the buff and having her do these thing for you at least once before you died," Sasori told him as he continued to make Sakura pose in front of Naruto.

"You will pay for this," Naruto spoke in a tone that hinted at barely controlled rage as how did this…this…thing this inhuman creature compare his feeling for Sakura to his own warped and sick ones.

0000000000000000000000000000000000

Naruto then found himself in a familiar sewer and standing in front of him was a gigantic gate with a paper seal with a word seal written on it. From within the gate red bubbles began to spring up and eventually form what look like a fox's head with red eyes.

"So, what is that you want?" Kyuubi asked as he was no longer contained completely with the seal as his head was now able to stick outside the cage within Naruto's mindscape.

"I want power; I do not care what happen to me. Just give me enough power that I kill this bastard for the things that he has done and made to Sakura do over the last five months if what I have seen is any indication of what this creature does with her," Naruto told him.

"Are you sure that you do not care what happens to your body then?" the Kyuubi asked as with a smirk as he could use this to his advantage.

"No, just as long as that I get to hear his cries of pain as he slowly dies in the process, I do not care what happened to me," Naruto told him.

"All right then, remove this seal and let me out," Kyuubi said as this was he probably the best chance he had to escape in fifteen years.

"Set you free?" Naruto asked as the demon fox just nodded his head.

"You said that you would do anything, so just take off the seal that keeping me in here and then you have a deal. Or would you rather continue watching the puppet that your pink hair brat has become continue to pose nude in front of you or even be made to sit on top your head so we can both find out just how anatomically correct this puppet girl still is," the nine tail demon said with a smirk that had not left his face sent Naruto had come here.

Without even taking another second to think it over, Naruto ripped the seal paper off the cage, and next thing he knew, everything went red.

0000000000000000000000000000000000

Outside of Naruto's mind, Sasori was wondering what was going on. Naruto seemed to space out, maybe having Sakura do all this was too much for him. Then a smirk appeared on his face as Sakura was had to stop pose and headed toward Naruto again. Though before she could there, the pink hair puppet collapsed to the ground, Sasori's hand being struck with something so hard it caused the cancel out the chakra strings being used to control her.

The Akatsuki then noticed that it had come from Naruto and that punched a whole through the cage holding him and using that piece to break his control over Sakura.

"Impossible! No human is naturally that strong!" Sasori yelled as Naruto then shoved the cage off his body and walked toward the shocked Sasori.

Sasori just stared at there stood the beaten and broken Naruto however red chakra was pouring out from as his wounds and heal the cuts and the internal bleeding cause from Sakura's blows. Naruto's nails had grown in claws, his hair changed from blond to blond with reddish orange tint, and he eyes were crimson red. Naruto then dropped down on all four as just then a giant burst of red chakra he was replaced by medium size version of the nine-tailed demon fox. Sasori knew that he had to take things seriously as if he did not go out him with everything he had there was no way he was going to win. Escaping would probably be the better option but there was no way he could do that, so the only option left to him was to fight.

Sasori tried to regain control of Sakura again but his string were blocked and the tails of Kyuubi Naruto and actually caused the feedback sent back from it to cause some of his fingers to melt, through strangely enough Sakura remained unharmed despite being held by one the tail.

Sasori then decided it would be a good time to test his new technique. Grabbing three scrolls from his cloak, he summoned his Red Secret Technique: Seven Kunoichi of Destruction yet when reached for the scroll holding six of the seven puppets, it was not there.

While shocked that the six of his newest combat human puppets were missing, he simply decide to use his old Red Secret Technique instead as maybe fighting him with numbers would work or at least alert the attention of another other member that might be in the area. With this read, Sasori then ordered his puppet to attack transformed Naruto as he in turned rush at them

0000000000000000000000000000000000

Ten minutes later…

Sasori was complete out of combat puppets and even civilian puppets using the weapons of his broken combat ones or later as shields. Every single one of them had been destroyed leaving nothing behind but giant crater that him and the transformed Kyuubi Jinchuuriki.

The first fifty were destroyed in single sweep of his tails (minus the one holding Sakura which was always kept close to his body). The second set of fifty he let attack him but were vaporized by just a yell which Sakura was protected against for some reason despite being at closer then any other puppet. The last of his combat puppets and string of his civilians ones were simple destroyed one by one. He stalked towards him, charging up some sort of strange attack.

Sasori was soon after this, hit with the attack Naruto had been charging up and left the crater the two of them were standing in. The red hair Kugutsu had to use puppets he had left as shields get away and even then, that was not enough to get away unharmed as his whole left arm had been vaporized in the process.

The transformed Jinchuuriki then hit Sasori's heart with something that made so he actually felt the pain of losing his left arm as well the pain one would fell from missing everything from stomach area as well.

"What the hell did you do to me?" he yelled as fell to the ground in pain yet received no answer from Naruto, who picked Sasori with one tail and then used another one to control Sakura himself.

Sasori then felt what it was like to have your body taken apart bit by bit as Naruto made Sakura individually crush every part of his body then pull it off and grind it into dust before his very eyes. From every joint in feet to the every strand of hair on his head was pulled off as Sasori's screams echoed throughout the forest.

Soon, the only thing left of Sasori that was not already ground into dust was the heart, the only original part of his body left. Sakura had that in her hand and was then made to rip that piece that same way she was made to do to his puppet body. As for what Naruto had done to the immortal puppet master to make him feel pain, well, it was a very advanced demonic genjustu that he cast on him to make his mind truly believe that he was human once again. Like the old saying goes: mind over matter. If you believe something hard enough, your mind will make it real.

Now that his revenge was fulfilled, Kyuubi Naruto just left the battle scar area with Sakura before someone else came by.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000

I would like to thank:

OueenThayet12990 and Kasyblack for adding this story to their Story Alert List

King Hawke for reviewing Chapter 08 and beta reading chapter 09


	10. After the Battle

Far away from the devastate forest where the Akatsuki member Sasori of the Red Sand met with an untimely end at the hands of Naruto who had released the Kyuubi from his seal to exact his revenge for the now deceased puppet master treatment of Sakura. Naruto had been lying on the ground in forest on some island located three countries away from where trashing of Sasori took place. However rather then looking like the demon fox he had released, Naruto had the appearance he took during the moment before he transformed into medium size version of Kyuubi.

Minutes turned hours and hours turned into days as Naruto just laid there unmoving until finally almost week after massacre of Sasori, he began to stir as he brought a clawed hand to his face

'I fell like crap what the hell happened after I release the seal' he thought as he wonder is this what it felt like when baa-chan drunk too much and someone had to help her home or at least over to the couch that was placed in the Hokage's office just for occasion when she gotten like this.

Upon opening his now red eyes, the blond with red tinted hair was shocked that he was looking up at the bright clear blue sky. Which unless the afterlife had sky like this he was pretty much a shock to still be alive let alone in control of his body from the looks of things. After removing the seal, Naruto thought that he was honestly going to die as he might have been able to keep Kyuubi sealed within him but once that seal had been remove he was sure dying was the only fate awaiting him. Since using his four tail Jinchuriki form shorten his life from the strain of the demonic chakra course through him. Let it all out at once should destroyed his body completely. Yet here he was perfectly fine and seemly in control as well. The blond was about to pinch himself when he noticed that he did not have normal fingernails anymore but claws instead. Opening his mouth he felt that his teeth had were fangs instead of normal human teeth. Although he had these thing he did not feel the Kyuubi's charka that usual accompany this changes.

'Just what happen to me after ripping off the seal' he thought as he expected releasing the seal to either kill him instantly and simple trust that Kyuubi leave Konoha alone as payment for being release.

Slowly though what occurred after his memory went blank came back to him as he saw as a nine-tailed demon fox completely destroying everything that was being throw at it then Sakura being made to slowly and painfully torture Sasori who was under genjustu that made him feel pain. He soon realized that this demon fox was himself when he saw the demon fox transform back into him after collapsing in the same spot that he in right now.

At this thought Naruto then wondered maybe for some strange reason instead of dying or having the Kyuubi take over his body when he release him, that the two of them had merged into a single being with him as the dominated persona. Though how his conscious managed to absorb the Kyuubi's leaving him in control of the demon fox's vast knowledge and power was beyond him.

"I guess being the number one ninja at surprising people includes myself" Naruto thought out loud as never in million years did he think that his conscious was strong enough completely overcome the strongest tailed demon's while the two were merging together.

"Sakura" Naruto yelled as began looking around for his wooden teammate who he was absolute certain was here with him just not sure where she was at the moment. It was not like she could be that far away from where he was since she was unable to move on her own yet he had been out cold for unknown length of time thus it was possible that while he was unconscious, someone or something could come and taken her. As for all intending and purposes, Sakura at the moment looked like she was nothing more then very well crafted, detailed, and incredibly life like human size puppet.

Jerking his head all around in search of the pink hair teen, Naruto finding found her though quickly turned his head once he had as Sakura was lying facing away from him over log about twenty feet away from the blond's current location. Though because her body was facing away from Naruto and she still completely naked the question of if Sakura was still anatomically correct in her puppet form was answer the moment Naruto had laid his eyes on her.

As he inched his way over to Sakura trying to respect her privacy and not leer at her naked body. Which was rather hard since she was, even if she did not think so, had always been among the most beautiful female in Konoha. That why when she asked him if she had been more womanly when they first met after he returned from his training trip he told her no. The reason he said so was because he always found her more then womanly enough thus he felt the answer was clear.

Though he dislike agreeing with that inhuman bastard about this there was no denying that Sakura was beautiful yet Naruto was actually glad in how he killed Sasori as that was probably the perfect punishment for someone like him. To be slowly taken apart piece by piece while still alive and by one of his victims who he forcefully did this too.

Once he had managed to make his way over to her, Naruto took over his jacket (which strangely enough he noticed that despite transforming in demon his clothes were not destroyed in the process) dressed Sakura in it. Since he was bigger then her it managed to cover her up down past her thighs. Ripping off the legs to his pants, Sakura also had makeshift skirt to go with the covering what Naruto's jacket did not.

"I wonder if I should just break….no I can not do that as I do not want to hurt Sakura in any way" Naruto said as looked at her tail which then decided to use as belt to keep her makeshift skirt on.

"There now that make you look a lot better, Sakura" Naruto said as he stood her up against a tree though she could not respond to what he was saying Naruto refused to treat her like a thing or something that could be owned. Despite her current form this was still Sakura his teammate and one of his most precious people, thus she deserve to treated like person.

"Just you wait I will get you back to normal but first I am going to find some way to at least restore your conscious for now" he told as lifted her onto his shoulder so he began the process of restore Sakura to normal.

She was still alive in a way after all so there must be someway of reverting her back to her original self. Sure medical ninjutsus can rebuild flesh and other things and he was sure that the demonic ones he now knew of could do much more yet he knew of no way it could return his teammate back to normal. Her entire body had been transformed to that of puppet and there was nothing he currently knew that turn puppet into humans and vice versa. This left Naruto wondering what he was going to do now as both his teammate were now puppets in a way. Sakura was literally a puppet while Sasuke going to have his body take over by the snake bastard whenever his current body, which was lasting usually long, failed him. Thus kind of making Sasuke in a puppet as well since the snake sannin would be controlling Sasuke's body instead of him.

000000000000000000000000000

I would like to thank:

King Hawke and QueenThayet12990 for reviewing this story

The Rogue Stallion for reviewing Chapter 01

ILikeBlue for reviewing Chapter 03

The Rogue Stallion for adding this story to their Story Alert List

ILikeBlue and RavenShantor for adding this to their Favorite Story List

King Hawke for beta reading Chapter 10

Also I would everyone else that has been read the original version of this story as it was at this point that the story had 5453 hits, been added to 4 C2 archives, was on 19 favorite list, and 19 people had added it to their Story Alert list.


	11. The Start of New Journey

"Great, this place really is a deserted island. I have been all over this place and found no one," Naruto sighed as looking around the while walking. Sakura was following beside as Naruto, true to his word to treat her like a person, refused to store her in scroll and thus one new jutsu he could now call upon to control Sakura without chakra strings. Though this would normally take a lot of chakra and work to maintain constantly, it was not something that much of a problem for Naruto since he before merging with Kyuubi, he could make hundreds Kage Bunshin and not drop dead five minutes later from chakra exhaustion because his abnormal large chakra reserve like most ninjas would.

"Ahhhh…crap! What the hell was that? Who the hell would be leaving something like this lying on the beach!" Naruto yelled as step on something that sank into his bare foot. The red tint blond had given Sakura his shoes because he did not want end up with scratches on the bottom (not knowing Sakura could simply repair herself).

"Sakura, you start digging over there while I start from over here," Naruto told her and while Sakura could not hear him, he liked talking to her to make it seem like she was still more of a person and then a puppet.

Digging around what are Naruto stabbed his foot on took some time, yet when the two of them were done it could be seen that what had been buried in the sand was actually a fully intact boat with its own engine and everything.

"This is great, Sakura! Now we can get off this island. Once we manage to clear this thing out, we can get out of…here," Naruto said as Sakura then grabbed the boat herself and flipped it upside down and shook it, the sand flowing out as well as anything that was not nailed down, for that matter.

Naruto was shocked she did this at first as he did not exactly tell her to do that exactly then he got the idea that maybe his chakra and method he was using to control was effecting her in unknown manner. Despite what Sasori thought, he was not the first to create puppet that had chakra of their own, that was actually a technique of demons, yet the difference from his version and the demonic one is that puppets were once human and they retained their own chakra and abilities. Thus Sakura and everyone else Sasori transformed was the result of human and demonic kugutsu techniques. The mixing of two similar yet different techniques gave way to interesting side effects like the one that Naruto was seeing right now.

'This might be answer to the first problem, if my theory is correct,' he thought as he realized that all he had to do was thinking of something Sakura would do it on her own. Normally when using this technique, one had to be constantly paying attention to the puppet they were controlling and give it constant commands.

The theory that Naruto had come up with was that normally it went when solely using the demonic version of the technique, the demon gave their own chakra to those they used as their puppet that originally did not have any chakra of their own before being infused with that of their puppeteer. Thus, while they had chakra to call their own, they could not use it without being directed to by the demon that gave it to them. However, it seemed that with Sasori's version of this same technique, because the puppet naturally had chakra of their own, the reaction of Naruto's chakra and Sakura's own chakra result in her being able to respond to his thoughts rather then need constant direction on what to do.

'Very interesting' Naruto thought. There seemed to be a limit to how far Sakura could act on her own, but this was definitely a start toward awaking her consciousness since she did not seem to be aware of what she was doing, but she was definitely acting on her own in accordance to his thoughts. He tested out his theory by thinking about how he wanted help her in cleaning up the ship though she had actually been on the ship before she did anything, otherwise she picked anything she found in the sand that did not belong there and dumped it on the ship.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Later that day…

Naruto and Sakura were out on the open sea where he was looking for some sign of land or even where he was for that matter as he did not have a map and his newly enhanced senses did not really work that well in the ocean since he was land demon not marine one, after all.

All Naruto could smell was the salt from the ocean, all he could see was ocean, and he could only hear the various sounds of the ocean all around him.

Naruto slumped his shoulders, sighed, and fell back in the chair that was located in the control room. The main reason he was using this boat instead simply walking on the water was because he did not want to be spotted as a person walking on water was the quickest way to draw attention to one's self; also, he was not sure if Sakura could still walk on water in her current state and did not want to risk her falling into the water or getting targeted by the marine life. He had no idea just how far he was away from land at all and what if he get tired and fell asleep in the middle of the ocean? He was sure that even demons had to sleep he just was not sure and rather not find out in the middle of a ocean with Sakura depending on him.

As Naruto sat there, he then felt someone's hand on his shoulders and began to massage them.

"Sakura?" Naruto asked for second wondering if she could talk to him now but it seem she was simply reacting to his thoughts.

Sakura's chakra (she still unaware for the most part) picked up on how he was depressed and giving a massage was how she learned to relief depression since stress and depression when hand and hand some time. Getting rid one of one something got rid of the other.

"Do not worry, Sakura. I am going to find some way to fully awake your consciousness then we can go about finding a way to restore you to normal together," Naruto told her even though she still could not hear him.

Naruto then felt something that caused him to shoot forward, leaving Sakura to fall forward from his sudden moving as he currently what she was using as her support to remain standing.

"This chakra…I know this chakra" Naruto said out loud. It was not that of human he was feeling but of demons and not just any one either.

"I guess getting lost like this was not that bad after all. I did not realize this guy was still running around loose after all this time," he thought out loud.

"Sakura, its seem like it might not be that long before you will be able to fully move on your own," Naruto said to her after picking her up and apologizing for letting her fall like that.

The one that he felt outside was someone that had knowledge when it came to using all forms of kugutsu, thus this was the perfect one to get in helping to creating the way that allows Sakura to move on her own as well as awake her sleeping conscious.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

I would like to thank:

King Hawke and QueenThayet12990 for reviewing this story

RANAMACAT for reviewing Chapter 08-10

Cherry-Blossom-Sakura08 for reviewing Chapter 01

Cherry-Blossom-Sakura08 for adding this story to their Story Alert List


	12. A Chance Encounter at Hot Spring

Naruto and Sakura had landed on island within the Land of Water in search of the chakra signature that he had found while they were lost at sea. Naruto was making sure that Sakura and he stayed away from the main island where Kirigakure, the Hidden Mist Village, was located since he did not want to draw any unwanted attention towards himself or Sakura at the moment. They were hooping around the outer islands.

Sakura's unusual reaction to the demonic Kugutsu technique which made it possible to move a puppet without chakra strings thanks to Sasori's human puppet process being a mixture of human and demonic Kugustu made it so that all he had to do was think about Sakura following after him and she would do just that.

It was while he was on one of the outer islands searching for chakra signature that lead him to the Land of Water that Naruto decided to take a quick nap. Upon his awaking the red tint blond opened his eyes to see blank green ones staring straight into his own eyes of crimson red. The transformed Jinchuriki then looked down to see that Sakura was kissing him on the lips and he almost jumped back in shock at what was going on them but did not as this teammate might fall to the ground without him supporting her.

Slowly he managed to get her off him and then thought about why she would be kissing him since as right now she could only act independently based off what he was thinking at the moment. However, it then that he realized something. While he was napping, he was dreaming about Sakura and kissing her. Maybe this caused Sakura to react and begin kissing him for real.

"Just great! My second kiss with Sakura and it's while she like this," Naruto sighed as the pink hair chunin puppet simply sat there awaiting the next time her chakra could react to what Naruto want her to do.

'Though, at least I woke up before things got too far in my dream, otherwise, she probably would have do more then just kiss me,' he thought.

"Come, Sakura, let's go. I know I felt their charka around here but soon after we arrived, it vanished," Naruto sighed as stood up and began walking off, Sakura following closely behind him.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

'Great, another day of searching and all I found was nothing,' Naruto thought. He was relaxing in natural hot spring he found by accident while he had Sakura sitting nearby, but far enough away from the water that she did not get wet. He did not want her body to get any water damage and there was no telling what that would do to his chance of changing her back to normal.

While Naruto was relaxing and forgetting about not finding it again today, he noticed another familiar charka signal and a strange one that he could not place coming towards him.

"I did not know that this spring was being used," a gray haired young man with black glasses said as he made his way to the hot spring with young teenage boy with purple eyes and dark grayish green hair.

"No problem. Me and best friend here must have had the same idea as you two," Naruto said as he quickly used the Sexy no Jutsu on himself and Sakura to disguise themselves from Orochimaru's right hand man Kabuto Yakushi.

Naruto had his usual disguise which was simply his female form without the smoke since he had towel wrapped around him and his long blond hair was not in pigtails but a simple ponytail. Sakura's Sexy no Jutsu form simply had her with long brown hair that was length it was before she cut it during their first Chunin Exam, black eyes instead green, and her bust was increased two fold.

'Hopefully he'll fall for this as this is the first time I've used this jutsu since merging with Kyubi and hopefully Sakura will not react as long I keep my thoughts or my anger at what Kabuto do in the past to me and others in check,' he thought to himself as one slip up and she probably would attack in an instant.

"I see," Kabuto responded. He was completely fooled by this technique that was once written off as nothing more then a useless perverted jutsu.

"You seem to standing crooked. Might I ask why, if you do not mind my asking?" the disguised blond asked in the spilt in the persona they created for this form.

"My back got hit against a rock a few months ago and still has not healed completely yet," Kabuto said, though Naruto could tell he still angry over the fact that he got his ass handed to him by Sakura while she was being controlled by Sasori.

How Naruto even knew about this was simply because he managed to hear a story about the battle of The Battle of Tenchikyo while searching for Sakura and Sasori.

"Oh, that's too bad. Well, anyway, my friend and I were just about to leave so you can have the spring to yourself," Naruto said gesture to the spring.

"Come on, Yukimaru. You wanted to rest since we must hurry back home because we have good news to report," Kabuto told him as he glanced at the disguised Sakura out the corner of his eye.

"Home. That place is not my home. I wonder where my home is," Naruto heard the purple eye boy said softly as he walked past.

'That boy, Yukimaru, I believe, he was called, has interesting charka about him. I'm going risk hanging around Kabuto for awhile to see just what the deal the chakra I felt from him. It clearly has a demonic feel to it,' he thought as Sakura and he walked away.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

I would like to thank:

King Hawke and RANMACAT for reviewing this story


	13. Book Store Run in

On the way to their destination, Kabuto suddenly decided that they would be staying in a town they had past by for a few days. When Yukimaru asked why they were staying here, he was simply told that there was something important that he needed to pick up here.

Within the place they were staying, Yukimaru sat looking at the window, staring up and down at the people as they passed by, wondering the same question that always seem to be on his mind. The question was something related to 'homes' and where his might be.

His thought were interrupted by Kabuto who got his attention away from the window.

"I want you to stay here in this room until I get back. Is that understood?" he told him to which Yukimaru simply nodded in response before Kabuto left the room.

A couple of minutes later within the town….

"Greetings. Welcome to Namiashi Bookstore. How may we be of service to you today?" a girl said pleasantly before bowing at him. Her co-worker did not say anything and had a blank expression on her face but she bowed along with her.

"Ummm…yeah, my name is Shigure Gashira. I have come to pick up the book I ordered," Kabuto said as he gave out the fake name he used to order his book.

"Of course, just one moment please," the girl told him as she moved to hold books that were lined up on the shelf behind them.

"Is there usually two of you behind the counter like this? There only one register for this store, so why the need for two cashiers? Also, this girl does not exactly look like the one you would want ringing people up," Kabuto asked as she simply stood there staring ahead at nothing seemingly.

"She's being trained at working with the register and we both work part time here; but I have been here longer, thus I teaching how to work the machine," the girl said as he placed the book in question on the counter.

Once again her co-worker did not speak nor did her expression change as she simply nodded her head 'yes' in response her trainer was saying.

"Here you are. Our last copy of Ich…" the trainer bookstore girl said before she was cut off by the gray haired man.

"You do not have to say it out loud! Now here the money!" the sound nin said as he gave her the exact amount and left the store.

"I get the feeling that we have met before. Have we?" he asked stopped at the entrance to address this concern.

"I am sorry, sir, you must have me confused with someone else," the girl responded. Kabuto shrugged and continued out the store.

A few minutes later, another person came into the store requesting a book but was soon to be disappointed.

"I am so sorry, Mr. Hatake. The last copy of the latest Icha Icha series has been sold out with the last copy going to Shigure Gashira who reserved it a few days ago," he was told by the girl behind the counter.

Kakashi then left the store depressed and disappointed as the latest volume of Icha Icha series came out so fast because it was to be considered short stories and one shots that never developed into full volumes.

Before he left, Kakashi turned to the girl and asked the same question Kabuto did before he left early.

"Have we met somewhere before? I am sure I remember seeing you from somewhere," the Copy Cat Ninja asked.

"I must look like someone very popular since you are the second person today to mistake me for someone else," the girl said and the co-worker simply nodded in response to what her trainer said.

"Okay then," he said before vanishing.

Once she was sure he was out of sight, she slumped her shoulders and let out a deep sigh.

"This sucks," the girl then said as her voice which once been tone polite and refined was now more tomboyish.

"Is the disguise failing or what? Maybe I should change the way I look," she said made her way out the backdoor with her companion and towards a carriage.

"So did you find out what you wanted?" Sazanami asked he driver of carriage she and her friend had got on.

"Yup, this stop was simply a waste of time for them. Though, seriously, are all people that wear glasses secretly closet perverts? First Ebisu and now Kabuto," the girl sighed as a puff of smoke revealed that she was actually Naruto.

Thus the girl, he claimed was his co-worker, was really Sakura who simply responding to Naruto's thoughts whenever a question was directed at her.

The real employees of the bookstore were on break and had been placed under a genjutsu, that once cancelled, sent them back to what they were doing, unaware that Naruto and Sakura pretended to be workers at the store.

"So are you going to keep following them or what? This could be dangerous. What if Kabuto seeing the new you cause him and Orochimaru to be added to list of people after your head?" Sazanami asked.

"To find out, deal with this Yukimaru kid. It might be worth the risk," Naruto said while looking at Sakura.

00000000000000000000000000

Elsewhere in campsite location outside the village….

"So, Kakashi-senpai, did they not have the all supplies that we needed?" Hinata asked as the masked ninja arrived back their campsite.

"They had them all," he told her as he placed them down on the ground but they could all tell that he was still depressed over something.

Hinata was about to say something else when Kiba stopped her.

"I bet he could not get the last copy of Icha Icha. That's why he was so adamant about stopping to pick up supplies here, not somewhere else. We could have kept going without those supplies for a few more days at least," Kiba whispered to her.

Shino, who had been quite up until this time, just nodded in response then his bugs alerted him to familiar chakra being nearby.

"Kiba, do you or Akamaru smell anything nearby?" he asked.

"Yeah, this scent is definitely something that I remember smelling before; but the two others with them, I cannot place exactly. What about you, Akamaru?" Kiba asked.

His companion and possibly oldest friend shook their head as he could not place the two other either.

Just then, despite this being wooded area with a beaten path for travel, a carriage past being controlled by person that Hinata and Kiba both recognized.

"Sazanami-san, is that you?" the Hyuga heiress asked.

"Yeah," he responded though mentally added 'This is not good! What if they recognize Naruto and Sakura through their henges?'

"Sazanami-san, should we keep going? We should really get out this forest before it gets too late," a girl with long black hair and blue eyes said as it could be seen that she was one riding in the carriage along with one other girl that had long blond hair and brown eyes.

"Is there something the matter?" the girl asked as Kiba and Shino both came up to her and giving her the once over.

They were about to ask her something when the blond stood up, went over to where she was and pushed them out the away from her.

"I am sorry. My friend is very protective of me," the black hair girl said as the shorter girl stay in front of her.

"Well, we should really be going. It was really pleasure meeting all of you," she said as she waved goodbye while her friend was holding on to her while looking at Hinata.

After Sazanami and the two girls with them were long gone and they were all about to go to sleep, Hinata brought something that had been bugging her.

"That girl with black hair for some reason I got the feeling that Naruto-kun was nearby and then girl that was called protective of her gave off the feeling of Sakura. I was curious so I used my Byakugan to see that neither one of them have normal chakra pathways," she said.

"Same thing here. Those two gave off familiar yet strange scents of cherry blossom wood and foxes," Kiba said.

"We should report this to Tsunade-sama later but for now we need to focus on our current mission," Kakashi told Team 8. That mission being a reconnaissance to confirmed the location of one of Orochimaru's hideouts.

0000000000000000000000000000

Meanwhile, in another one those locations that can not be found by anyone else unless they knew exactly what they were looking for, Naruto dropped his and Sakura's henge and plopped down on couch that located in this hideout.

"Great, of the team we had to run into, it just had to be Hinata's Team along with Kakashi-sensei," Naruto sighed as then felt Sakura began to massage his shoulders.

"Thanks, Sakura," he told her even though she could not hear or respond to him.

"I think Sakura might have some feelings for you and it might just be my imagination but she seemed jealous of Hinata," Sazanami told him as he run in within Hinata again around a year and half after they first met and that when he learned of her crush on Naruto.

"You think so? Maybe, but I wouldn't be too sure. Sakura probably just sees me as nothing more then friend," Naruto said as Sakura then stopped massaging his shoulder and kissed him for the third time while she was in this state.

"It appears that you might be wrong about that. Sakura is supposedly acting subconsciously to your thought thus her actions are coming from her subconscious which might have view of you that is different from her actions around you both she was turned into a human puppet" Sazanami told him.

"Maybe, but that means I just have to keep my thoughts in check even more so she does not end up doing something I would not want to her while she like this," Naruto said as Sakura stopped kissing and was now hugging him.

0000000000000000000000000000

I would like to thank:

King Hawke, QueenThayet12990, and RANMACAT for reviewing this story

Areai Moonlight and Nepaliguru for adding this story to their Story Alert List


	14. Meanwhile in Konoha Pt 01

Tsunade made her way towards where the examination building where everything that needed to be examined was sent to. However, rather then simply going to one of the normal rooms, the blond Hokage was heading where they kept the articles that they considered classified and not for prying eyes as well as the added bonus of being surrounded by barriers that made it so no one from outside could spy on those within easily.

After going through the needed process to get into the room which she was heading into, Tsunade opened the final door to see Kankuro, the older brother of Gaara who was temporary taking his older sister place as the Suna ambassador and Ino's father Inoichi Yamanaka standing in front what was being stored here.

"So how's the work coming along?" Tsunade asked.

"It's been pretty hard. Sakura really has changed from the first time we met and I never would have expected something like this from her at the time," Kankuro said.

"I bet no one really expected much from Sakura as both Ino and her were still too obsessed with Sasuke to really focus on being good kunoichi at that point. Though I must say that I was rather shocked at how fast she was able to learn what took Ino and Shizune almost twice as long to learn. Sakura mastered it in just a few weeks," she sighed.

"Well, switch subjects before you get too into your 'missing Sakura and Naruto' state," said Kankuro while the older woman just glared at him.

"Fine, I'm interested to see if you two have finished up with them yet," she said as this was more important at the moment.

"Here they are," Inoichi told her as Kankuro and him got the way so she could see three puppets standing behind them.

These three puppets in question were Hiruko, Third Kazekage, and a normal human puppet of random person.

"As you can see, here is the human puppet of some person that Sasori converted. There was almost nothing left of their original puppet body, but from what Kankuro managed to piece together and my own investigations, it was revealed that this type of human puppet has no consciousness no matter what we do. It is my guess that this person was simply him experimenting with his hobby," Inoichi told her.

"Wait! Are you saying that Sasori had different types of human puppets?" Tsunade asked to which they both nodded, sure of this assumption due to their findings after examining them.

"Next up are two of the most powerful ninjas from Suna from over twenty years ago, Hiruko and the Third Kazekage. Both were thoroughly destroyed by one punch from Sakura as seen from the fist-sized hole located on their bodies. Also, while I never fought against the puppet version of Third Kazekage myself, this missing part of the body is probably where Sasori took the Iron Sand," Kankuro said, pointing at the area Sasori had indeed taken after storing the Iron Sand inside it.

"With Hiruko, it seems that the tail is missing and it's safe to say that both the tail and the Iron Sand were taken by Sasori," he continued.

"What happened to the consciousness of the two people these puppets used to be?" Tsunade asked.

"While there are still some signs of consciousness in their wooden body, it's not enough. They would never ever be able to move on their own again. If any one of three were ever to be converted back into humans before being destroy by Sakura, they would have died instantly or been comatose," Inoichi informed her.

"Wait. What happened to the four human puppets that we had? This only three of them," the Slug Sanin asked.

"Actually, something strange happened with that one. Something we thought was not possible, but it happened nevertheless though," Ino's father told the Hokage.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000

Within another room sitting in chair was the human puppet version of Sasori's mother, Kazumi.

"Why is she alone in this room and sitting in chair no less?" Tsunade asked as she stood with Inoichi and Kankuro on the other side of two way mirror.

"Okay, now watch this," Kankuro told her as he created some charka strings that went through a hole they had created for just this situation.

Once the string as attached themselves to Kazumi she began to move looking around curiously for few minutes before collapsing to the ground once the string had been detached from her.

"Okay, what the hell was that?" Tsunade asked as she never saw Kankuro move his hand once all he did was contact chakra strings to her.

"It seems that out of all the human puppets that were left behind where Sasori, Sakura, and Chiyo had their battle, this was the only one that's still roughly in one piece and despite being dead at the time of her conversion from human to human puppet over twenty years ago, somehow she still has a partially working consciousness that became activated after I entered her mind," Yamanaka male told her.

"Let me guess. By partially working, you mean it only activated while she was being controlled by Kugutsu users like Kankuro?" Tsunade asked to which Inoichi nodded.

"Interesting. That means that even if Sasori managed to convert Sakura into a human puppet, there is a chance that at least one of her consciousnesses could survive the process," Tsunade thought out loud.

"What? One of them? Are you trying to say that she has multiple personalities?" Kankuro asked.

"Actually, we are not sure what exactly is going on with Sakura in that regard. It seems she has three separate wills inside her. This was something that we discovered when investigating the reason Sakura was able to fight off the effect of the Shintenshin no Jutsu and my daughter's claim of a second will inside of Sakura," Inoichi said.

"There's the Sakura that we all know; a second that is the one Ino informed me is responsible for kicking her when she tried to use our family jutsu on her during their first chunin exam, and a third one is completely mysterious as my brother and I only got glimpse of this Sakura before she kicked us out. Of the three, it might be that the third Sakura is the original one, yet we have not been able to examine this fully since the Shintenshin no Jutsu has not worked on her since that day," he continued.

"If Sakura has two other wills in her body, should something been done about at the time if one tries to overtake the others or something?" Kankuro asked.

"The Sakura we know does not seem to be aware of these other two wills inside her; however, we are not sure as to why. Since they do not seem to be affecting her mind or body, this could simply be the remains of a bloodline limit that simply degraded into the state that we are seeing now. It's not that unusual for this to be present within Sakura as over time it is possible for this to happen to any bloodline limit. The reasons for it though are too numerous to nail down at this point," Tsunade told him

"It's possible that Sakura might not be able to recover though. You have seen that with Kazumi. She has no memories of ever being human and unless she's being fed a constant supply of chakra, she cannot move on her own," Inoichi spoke up.

"If there is a way to turn people into puppets and bring back them from dead, then safely and fully changing a person back from being a human puppet should be possible as well. Even if I cannot find a way, I am sure that Naruto would if Sakura has been made into a human puppet, which I am hoping she has not," the Fifth Hokage said confidently.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000

I would like to thank everyone that read the original verison of this story as originally at this point this story had 10,574 hits, 28 reviews, been added to 7 C2 archives, was on 29 favorite list, and 36 people had added it to their Story Alert list.


	15. Meanwhile in Konoha Pt 02

Tsunade returned to her office to see that Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado were there waiting for her.

"Is there something that you two want?" the Fifth Hokage asked.

"Yes, we would like to talk to you about the Kyubi Jinchuriki and your second apprentice," Koharu told her.

"Their names are Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno," Tsunade told her, not liking how she referred to them by the titles they held rather then their real names.

"That's not what is important here. What is important is that the mission Naruto is on regarding his finding of one Sakura Haruno should be void and he should be listed as missing nin along with Sakura, whose status should be changed from MIA to missing nin," Homura said.

"What are you talking about? Naruto hasn't come back from his mission yet and you want to label him a missing nin because of it?" the blond Sanin asked trying to keep her cool.

"Well, it has been over six months and neither he nor his teammate has been made contact with Konoha. Also there's the fact that a pink-haired teenager that reported to be around fifteen in age with superhuman strength going around and brutally killing not only bounties, but apparently might be contact to string of murders that have been popping up around the numerous country outside of the Fire Country's borders," the former female teammate of the Third Hokage stated.

"Sakura has been captured by the Akatsuki member known as Sasori who stated to turn those he had defeated and had an interest in adding more puppets of his human puppet collection. This man had no problem with converting children or the elderly to his collection so why should your apprentice be any different? The only reason we have demanded that she be consider KIA is because of her connection to the holder of Kyubi leaving the possibility that she might still being alive," Homura informed her.

"Wait, 'had'? Does this mean that Sasori is dead? Since when?" Tsunade asked

"Of course he is dead. Sasori died almost two months ago according to the date on the report that we have just got recently. Also this is part of the reason we wished to have Naruto added to the missing nin list as he has possibility endangered Konoha and us all by releasing Kyubi from the Fourth's Seal," Homura said.

"Again, just based off the fact that he used an unusual amount of the nine tailed demon's chakra, we should ban him for it. Tell me, if Kyubi is truly free, then why has not he come back here to kill us all? He would surely have a reason to do so after being forced live sealed within a human for the last fifteen years," Tsunade asked.

"The demon can be influencing his action thus he should be consider a danger," Koharu stated.

"Really now. Naruto could have been hearing Kyubi's voice for years, yet only realized that it was him three years ago. I am sure that the mightiest of the tailed demon would not sit around for twelve years before beginning think up to a escape plan. Would not it have been better to try when Naruto was looked down upon by almost the entire village?" Tsunade said smugly.

"You have a point, but we will not give up on this effort as when we have solid evidence of Naruto's and Sakura's supposed actions you will have no choice by to label them missing nin as we have suggested you do now," Koharu told her.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

'I wonder what Tsunade-sama will think of this,' Shizune, the first apprentice of Tsunade, thought as she made her way to her master's office.

On her way there though, she noticed two council members make their way down the hall that she was going up.

"Stubborn woman! She's too soft on that Kyubi brat, just like Hiruzen was," Shizune could hear Koharu mumble as they passed by each other.

"Tsunade-sama, what was that about?" the black hair woman asked as entered her office to see that she was drinking a bottle of sake.

"Tsunade-sama! What are you doing? It's still too early to be drinking any sake yet!" Shizune asked making her usual comically reaction to her master when she did things like this.

"I just needed a drink real quick. Koharu and Homura sure are dead set on making Naruto and Sakura missing nin," Tusnade told her.

"Really, but how is not Naruto's mission still valid?" Shizune asked.

"The council is trying to void the mission I made that prevents Naruto from being labeled a missing nin and now they want change Sakura's status from MIA to missing nin because that bounty hunter that was going around killing not only bounty brutally but thought also thought to be a massive serial killer," Tsunade sighed.

"Well, the report we got from our informants and Jiraiya's states that there is a bounty hunter that appears to be near Sakura's age with her unique hair color and super strength," Shizune said as this cause the blond Hokage to glare at her.

"I am sorry, Tsunade-sama, I know that Sakura would never willingly do these things that she's being accused of. However, I know that Sasori is able to alter a person mind as that how he and his partner got past Suna's gate without lifting a finger. Then there is his sick habit of turning his enemies into his puppets," Tsunade's first apprentice said.

"I know already, but still, Naruto and Sakura are like family to me as until they came along the only ones I cared for were you and Tonton. Naruto helped get me over my fear of blood and rekindle my fighting spirit. Sakura does remind me a little of myself at her age as well progressed in leap and bound compare to where she was two and half years ago" the Fifth Hokage sighed.

"Though, it's strange that they are so adamant about making them missing nin when simply mentioning Sasuke and missing nin in the same sentence gets them worked up," Shizune said.

Though stranger still was that two Konoha elders would want Sasuke to remain off the missing nin list so bad when these were the same people that decided it was better to kill the Uchihas rather then at least trying to solve the problem peacefully when the Uchihas were planning to revolt against Konoha for the unfair standing the Uchiha Clan held despite being one of the village's two founding clans.

"All that Sasuke kid really has going for him really in terms of helping the village is his Sharingan and his skill as a ninja. However, no matter how skilled he may be or what bloodline limit he might have, the kid is still just one person that only has his last name to fall back on when his skills and Sharingan are useless. However, when it comes to Naruto, he has personal connection to almost a dozen heads of state, some of which include two recognized Kages (Tsunade and Gaara) and two heads of smaller ninja villages, has been a big part in saving multiple countries, and mastered Justus that have taken others years to master in only a quarter of the time. While Sakura has shown the potential that she could be a better medical nin then both the late Chiyo and myself by not only finding an antidote to a poison we could not but by making all antidote to poison even if it was only for three minutes. They're reason the three of them are not here. Sakura was captured by Sasori, thus she didn't willingly leave. Naruto left to go after Sakura and bring her back. However, Sasuke not only left for selfish personal reasons, but left to go join someone that wishes to destroy this village," Tsunade grumbled.

"Ummm….Tsunade-sama, here the result from the last report we have got from Kakashi and Team Eight regarding the strange new jutsu they have run into while in the Land of Water on their recon mission as well as newer report that had just got here," her first apprentice told her as she wanted to get this done before she got too drunk.

She looked over the report as usual but then her eyes came across a certain part of the newest report Kakashi had sent her. This one regarded the two girls and old acquaintance of Naruto, Kiba, and Hinata. She blinked as she looked it over once and then re-read it again to make sure that she was reading it right before slamming the report on the desk.

'That brat! I am sure that this is him. I guess the saying 'like father like son' applies here to as just like Jiraiya and his perverted Transparent Escape Technique which allows him spy on woman without being caught, but strangely enough is also great for spying in general. Naruto turned the Sexy no Justu into the perfect disguise,' Tsunade thought as she was not sure just who might being listing in.

"Shizune, go get me Tenzo this minute!" Tsunade yelled.

"Yes, Tsunade-sama," the black hair woman said as she was left to carry out her master's order, wondering why she wanted Tenzo of all people.

000000000000000000000000000000000000

"Tenzo, I called you in here because I want you to go the Land of Water, which is the last nation I am sure that Naruto was last seen in. Also it's possibly that the seal might have been released, but because there have been no reports of a giant demon fox roaming the land nor has Konoha been attacked by it again, I am guessing that Naruto is still keeping the Kyubi sealed somehow," Tsunade informed a brown hair man with a weird metal helmet-like thing on his face.

"I am going to doing this alone. Can I use a codename instead of my real one?" Tenzo asked.

"Of course, the possibility that Naruto might not fully be himself is high so Asuma's team might be of good use in this instance. Also, Kakashi and Kurenai's team are currently in the Land of Water. You can serve as each others' back-up, since according to their latest report, they have already had a run in with Naruto and Sakura as well as encounter a jutsu we have never seen before. As for using your codename, I see no problem with you going by Yamato instead of your real name. In fact, I think that a good idea," the blond Hokage told him.

What Tsunade and the other did not know that someone had overheard what they had been talking about.

That person that overheard them happened to be Ino Yamanaka, who currently using the Shintenshin no Jutsu to control a bird's body. She really had not meant to spy on her master. It was just she was interested in what she might be doing and things just happened as they did. She'd been practicing on animals again, since controlling a person was one thing, but there were times that it would be better to use animals instead to doing reconnaissance as well as helping increase her focus since animals could do things that people could not, like birds being able to fly. For Ino, to be able to fly while in control of bird's body, she has to concentrate on flying since it was not something that came natural to her.

'It all makes sense when you think about how villagers used to treat Naruto, the fact that his birthday is the exact same day as Kyubi 'supposedly' being killed, and that strange chakra that appeared during his match with Neji in our first Chunin Exam,' Ino thought as she made her way back to her body since she needed to get ready to look for help Yamato look for her best friend and rival.

Shikamaru sighed as he sat back looking up at the clouds from his favorite spot while also keeping a eye on the Ino's body while she was out practicing with her family jutsu.

"This so troublesome. I cannot fully focus on what I want to while having to watch Ino's body like this" he sighed.

Just then Ino blinked as she got within range to transfer her mind back to her body.

"Hey, Shikamaru, did you know that Naruto is…" Ino started by was cut off by her teammate.

"The holder of Kyubi. Yeah, I have known about for a few years now. It was not that hard to figure out once I actually thought about all the holes in the story we were told, how Naruto was treated by the villages, his birthday being the same day Kyubi was 'killed', and few other things. I just never said anything about because we are not supposed to know," the Nara Chunin sighed.

"Well, do you know where Naruto is right now then?" Ino said sure that Shikamaru could not tell her this.

"Probably the Land of Water," he sighed as he knew what was coming next from Ino.

"What!!! How could you know something like that?" she demanded loudly.

"Quiet or you will attract unwanted attention but I am sure that I ran into Naruto while we were part of the Niju Shota task force. That guy is certainly a genius in his own right like Rock Lee and Hinata for coming with practical use for something like that. Though nevertheless, it was thanks to information he gave me on Hidan that Asuma-sensei is still alive. As for how I know what Naruto might be currently be there, I noticed a huge chakra source pass over my head about two months ago while on mission and I am sure that I saw something pink for a instant before it vanished," Shikamaru told her.

"I thought that Asuma-sensei's near death experience caused you to be more serious as you managed to beat Hidan on your own with knowledge you got from his battle with sensei, but here you were just watch the clouds like you normally do," Ino sighed.

"Of course you would think that, but maybe I'm here to simply to give off the impression of slacking off. Did you ever think of that?" her teammate asked as he was really there thinking of ways to help Naruto find Sakura or keep them from become a missing nin.

Before Ino could continue, Choji appeared on the roof and told them of the mission they would be taking soon, which dealt with finding Naruto and Sakura and acting as Kakashi and Team 8's back up.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000


	16. One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Within the elemental countries, there exists a number of special hideouts that no ninja or kunoichi can find unless they already know beforehand where they are. These places are thought to be mostly legends and myths. No one knew who made these hideouts as some say that they pre-date the time period of the Sage of the Six Paths, the legendary figure who founded the ninja world and was the first to invent Ninjutsu.

Yet, there was one ninja who not only knew the hideouts existed but was actually using them for his own purpose. This ninja was none other then Konoha number one ninja at surprising people (himself included) as well the current nine tailed demon thanks to Kyubi merging with him, Naruto Uzumaki.

Currently, the red tint blond was sleeping on couch that was located in the strangely well accommodated hideout. Though Naruto was now truly the demon that people tried or foolishly believed he was for years, he did not need to sleep that much any more but it was a hard habit to break as sleeping at night was just something that came natural being human, one with demon sealed in him yet never the less still fully human.

Hugging him securely was what at first glance looked like nothing more then life size wooden puppet, yet, in reality, it was his teammate Sakura Haruno who had been converted into this by the late Sasori of the Red Sand. Of course, Sasori met his untimely end when he let his ego and overconfidence get the better of him.

Strange things had been happening to her since Naruto had managed to get her away from the sick and twisted excuse for human that was named Sasori. First was that she had strange reactions to the demon kugutsu that allow him to control her without chakra string. That being that somehow this just made so that she could move on her own and react in limit amount of ways. However, lately, Sakura seemed to become more and more responsive as of late. She still could not act completely on her own, but the range of things, she could do on her own was steadily increasing.

At the moment, Sakura could not move an inch as while she was able to do things on her own that were solely dependent on Naruto's use of the demonic kugustu that allow one to move puppets with the use of chakra strings.

Naruto yawned as he awoke from his unneeded but still taken slumber to see that Sakura was hugging him again.

Rather then removing Sakura's arms from around him on his own, he was keeping to his word of continuing to treat Sakura like a person and not the puppet she appeared to by using that demonic kugustu. Though rather then just getting up and sitting next to him, she walked over to the kitchen area and grabbed a bowl of instant ramen that was stacked up on the counter alone with some of the water that was stored in this place.

Naruto was about ask "why" (thinking that talking to her might help in her become more aware) when he got his answer through his own stomach rumbling.

It was unknown why there was so much instant ramen left in these hideouts and more over why both ramen and the water was still fresh was mystery, but Naruto was not complaining as he was getting himself free ramen.

"Sakura, you don't…." Naruto started to say before a bowl of instant ramen that only need to be heated up was presented to him.

It seemed that in addition to being able to do more then she could before, Sakura could also tell when she could not do something and was even able multitask to some degree.

Naruto took the bowl of ramen and heated it up himself. One good thing he discovered about being Kyubi now was that he could heat his own instant ramen instantly rather then have to wait those annoying three minute for the water to boil.

While he was eating the ramen, Sakura simply sat there looking at him, waiting for the next thing she could do for him.

Naruto had thoughts and dreams about a time when he would be eating ramen, even instant ramen, that had been prepared by Sakura, yet what he did not expect was that it would be while it was like this.

Naruto then turned his head towards Sakura whose head cocked to the side slightly as if she was wondering what he wanted her to do as he was looking at her but her subconscious in it current state could not determined what he wanted based off the thought she was getting from him.

Coming up with something, Sakura then stood and began striking pose that let Naruto get a better look at her since she guessed he wanted to look at her body.

Naruto just stood there shocked for few seconds before he sat her back down, her head cocking in confusion again as she simply doing what he wanted.

'Great, I am really going to have control what I think about her. She's getting better at interpreting my thoughts,' the red tint blond sighed mentally.

As for what Naruto was looking at was how Sakura seemed to be against wearing anything then what she currently had on. That being his jacket and makeshift skirt he had made for her after he awoke from merging with Kyubi and killing Sasori.

"Once I can find who we are here looking for, I can get started on learning how to make it so that you can do more and act on your own fully rather then semi-fully like you are now," Naruto told her, yet this was lost on the pink haired human puppet that simply pushed the ramen towards him as if she was saying to eat while it's hot.

Though as she was pushing the ramen closer to him, his eyes ventured to his open jacket that she was wearing. Since she refused to take it off, Naruto finally realized that meant that she still had nothing on under the jacket, thus giving him a good view of her wooden breasts.

'Since Sakura's almost like a second baa-chan, I wonder if that means her breasts are done growing yet for her. Right now her current bust size fits her perfect, but still, I wonder if in two or so years they grow out to be huge like Hinata's has become,' Naruto thought.

While Naruto himself may not be pervert, that did not mean that his sensei were not. Kakashi, Ebisu, and worst of all Jiraiya, while all three of these highly capable ninjas that were amongst the best at what they did, their shared flaw was that they were all perverts in their own way (from closet pervert to super pervert). After three years of traveling with Jiraiya and have to deal with his perverted ways whenever he was not being serious about training, some of his bad habits had rubbed off on Naruto.

Now was one such time when his mind wandered and he imagined Hinata's huge breasts being rubbed in his face in place of Sakura's small ones back during the time Sasori had forced her to do it.

Naruto then felt someone tapping him on his shoulder and he turned right into a fist that Sakura drove into his face, sending her teammate flying across the hideout into the wall leaving a crater about two inches deep.

Normally he would not be happy that he was slugged from something that just happened as result of having nothing but highly capability but nevertheless perverted sensei. However, this was different because this was reaction might mean that Sakura had become fully aware.

'This requires a test. It might get me slugged again, but it would be worth it if Sakura's consciousness has awakened,' Naruto thought as looked towards Sakura and thought about his previous line of thought again.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

'It about time I get back to doing my own things,' Sazanami thought as enter the hideout. While he was partnering with Naruto, they most did their own thing looking for their own leads. Since he was not a ninja, there were places that he could get into easier then Naruto could even while using his Sexy no Jutsu disguise. Also, Naruto was trying to avoid Hidden Villages in case someone managed to recognize him or undercover that he was using a jutsu.

"Hey, Naruto….I am….back," Sazanami said as he did not really know what to make the scene that was before him.

Naruto was running around the hideout being chased by a completely topless Sakura who was holding onto his jacket with her tail (which probably could be considered hers now since she refused to give it up).

"I do not even want to know. I'll just go in the back until you two are finished," Sazanami said.

"Wait! This is not what it looks like!" Naruto said in panic, though because he stopped to say this, Sakura caught up with him and now pressing his face against her wooden breast.

"Sakura, stop!" Naruto told her as he held her at arm's length yet his thoughts were betraying him as she wiggled out his grasp and resumed what she was doing.

Five minutes later…

"She's going to beat the living hell out of you if she ever learns of this," Sazanami told him, looking over at Sakura who lying on the couch motionless because Naruto had to cut the jutsu responsible for her moving to stop her.

"I thought that her consciousness had come back fully when she slugged me for the first time, but the second time, well, you saw what happened. It's not like I wanted her to really do that, but once she started trying, it was hard to stop thinking about those since she was completely topless rather then just partially after all!" Naruto told him as he was still trying to get the blush off his face.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000


	17. Naruto Versus Team Guren

Yukimaru, the person that Naruto was following after because he sense demonic chakra coming from him, was no longer traveling with Kabuto but now was traveling with a purple haired woman with black eyes that was also the strange new jutsu that Kakashi and Team 8 reported back to Konoha and requested back up for. Also because of Yukimaru getting sick on the way to where her subordinates were supposed to be waiting for her, the two of them had gotten much closer then they were before.

"So, you guys still here, I thought that you would have ran away by now instead of this being here," Guren, the name of the woman with purple hair said as she entered the broken down building that was being used as their meeting place.

"We are all supposed to be your subordinates after all and it's not like we have anywhere else to be," a person with brown hair said, shrugging his shoulder.

"Also it seems that we are being followed by two groups one is group of three people and ninja dog. Rinji and I found the tracks. We are pretty sure they're the same Konoha ninja we ran into earlier," a large person that was slightly hunched over said.

"What about the second group?" Guren asked curiously.

"Not sure really. I managed to pick up on the fact that they were following us; but other then that, nothing. The moment they noticed my bats (which are being used as trackers) we have not been able to find them again. There is not even a trace of where they passed by like the Konoha ninjas following us," said Rinji, the brown hair man that larger part mentioned finding the ninja dog track with.

"So what should we do about this?" he asked.

"I know only one thing and that is that I do not want them following after us anymore, so naturally, we are going to get rid of the Konoha ninja first since we know where they are then found where that second group is and take them out as well," Guren said.

"Yukimaru, stay here until we get back. Is that understood?" the purple hair woman informed him. He just nodded in response.

From there, Guren began planting crystal flowers in circle about mile away from where her subordinates were keeping the Konoha ninjas busy and hoped that second group following them was in this area as well.

000000000000000000000000000000000

Meanwhile inside area being surrounded by crystal flowers…

"This is just great. Of all the jutsu to run into, it just had to be this one," Naruto sighed. Thanks to Kyubi's memories, he had a rough understanding about what the crystal jutsu was capable of. Thus he had a decent idea of how to get around being detected by it while traveling in his Sexy no Just form along with Sakura as they made their way through the forest trying to find Yukimaru.

Just then with his enhanced eyesight, he noticed something up head that was out of the ordinary.

'Smoke and it's not normal smoke either,' Naruto thought and he then noticed two blurs shoot by in the distance and he recognized one as Kakashi-sensei and some large guy that he apparently was about to fight.

If Kakashi's coming from that direction, then Hinata and her team should be in the direction that the smoke is coming from.

He did not want to get involved with their fight since that could possibly blow his cover and they can give away his location to Konoha before he found out what he desired in regards to Yukimaru. Although, he could not just abandoned his friends again after seeing they might be in danger.

After awhile of thinking, Naruto decided that he was just going to have to take the risk as if they appeared quickly and left swiftly enough than there should really be a problem. Having a feeling that Kakashi-sensei would not need much help, Naruto sent a shadow clone to back him up if needed while he and Sakura headed off towards where Team 8 should to be from the direction Kakashi had come from.

000000000000000000000000000000000

"It's over. There's nothing you can do so give up" Kakashi told Gozu, the large individual that had one of Kakashi's kunai to his neck.

Gozu just smiled as he suddenly shrunk to half his size and vanished from where Kakashi had kunai against his neck.

He appeared behind Kakashi about to strike him before the Copycat Ninja could even respond but something else happened instead as Naruto's Shadow Clone appeared behind him with swift kick to the gut, which sent Gozu flying off to somewhere else in the forest. By the time Kakashi turned around, he jumped back to see Gozu was gone and the puff of smoke still lingering behind from Naruto's Shadow Clone dispelling itself.

000000000000000000000000000000000

Meanwhile within the smoke covered area, Hinata dropped down to one knee while holding her arm as had been beaten by Nurai, one of Guren's subordinates who though Soft Physique Modification managed to render the Gentle Fist useless. That and now that she was too tired to use her Byakugan, she lost her only advantage in this strange smoke that robbed her and Kiba, before he left, of their ability to see and smell.

"Okay, now finish her off quickly!" Rinji ordered him.

Nurai went for the killing blow against Hinata as the only reason he and he comrades were able to see in the smoke was thanks to Rinji using his bats to in someway that allow them to see too.

Yet Nurai felt something clamping down hard on his arm, so hard in fact, that even with his abilities, he was unable to move. Soon his entire body was in a similar position where he was unable to move at all. From what he could tell, it appeared to be some kind of black sand that was holding him in place

"Soft Physique Modification, huh? That's an interesting technique, yet you know it has a weakness to it," a voice said in low voice that only Nurai could hear.

"If someone where to prevent you from moving, then hit you hard enough, they could punch a hole right through you regardless of your ability," the voice said as then the missing nin known as Nurai felt a punch to his gut and tried to Soft Physique Modification render the blow useless like Hinata's Gentle Fist.

However, this proved useless as despite the modification to his body, he was still human after all and there was only so much a human body could take before its limit was reached. While this the punch broke through that limit and tore though his body like a hot knife through butter leaving a huge whole in his gut where his internal organs fell out of when they moved back into place after the Soft Physique Modification technique was canceled.

Rinji then ordered the rest of his group to fall back because he could not sense those that killed Nurai and back up was on its way according to his bats.

Soon after that, Kiba and Akamaru used Gatsuga to clear the smoke away from the area and Hinata jumped back shocked at sight on Nurai lying dead on the ground with a hole in his gut and internal organs split out on the ground in front of her. Though out the corner of her eye she could have swore that she saw a Naruto's orange and black jacket.


	18. Jade Crystal Labyrinth Technique

"Interesting. I knew that Copycat Kakashi would be a problem but not from the second group following us as well. I especially did not expect them to be able to actually kill Nuari or take out Gozu so easily," Guren sighed as she saw what happen through her crystal ball.

'Whoever these two are, they are pretty good at avoiding being spotted. I could not even see them with my crystal ball nor while I was making my preparations for Jade Crystal Labyrinth Technique until they stopped to help the Konoha ninjas,' Guren thought, just wondering who could be following them.

'It's been awhile since I have had a good fight and things are starting to get more interesting,' the purple hair woman thought as noticed that her subordinates were now out of the area so she activate her Jade Crystal Labyrinth Technique now.

By manipulating the crystal flowers she made throughout the area and small ruby oval shape stone she had in her hand, she created a gigantic labyrinth consisting of red crystals that spread over three miles in every direction hopefully trapping all of her targets inside (hopefully because she does not know where the second group was exactly at the moment).

Now that the trap had been set, all Guren had to do was engage her target and while taking extreme caution with the unknown second group as other then them the only real threat to her was Kakashi. Creating giant mirror, she then admired herself in for a second before multiple clones of herself emerge from the mirror.

"Now go out and get into fight with everyone inside this dome and hopefully capture someone from that second group following us or one of the weaklings from Kakashi's group" Guren ordered as she needed to find out who else was follow her and why she has not been able to detect them properly yet as well how they managed to kill Nuari with such ease.

000000000000000000000000000000000

With Kakashi and Team Eight….

Hinata held her head. Every time she tried to use the Byakugan she saw countless versions of herself, so many in fact, that it gave her a headache.

'This place is like a house of mirrors or something,' she thought as she spotted something orange and black just before whatever caused her Byakugan to backfire on her sprang up while Kiba and Akamaru smelt something similar to Naruto's scent.

With Shino's insects still around roaming the area from the net Shino set up earlier with the intention of help Kiba and her though proved to be not needed as someone else killed her opponent, Kakashi decided that they would see if Naruto was indeed in this area while also still moving forward. From the looks of things, they might be following the same group.

The Hyuga Heiress was searching with her normal eyesight (since she could not use her Byakugan at the moment) for Kakashi or any one of her teammates. Right now it would be better if they were all together rather then separated as they currently were. She noticed that Shino's bugs were confused, thus they wouldn't serve as back up for them anymore.

Hinata moved her head to the left just in time to see two sharp crystal shards fly pass her and embed themselves in a nearby tree.

"It must be tough for a Hyuga like you to be in place like this, huh? Though I am shocked you managed to dodge something like that completely without the use of your bloodline limit. Let's see how you handle this," Hinata heard a voice say.

Hinata then once again managed to counter attack what Guren thought would not be possible for a Hyuga that was not using the Byakugan.

'Interesting,' Guren thought as she got up from the throw that Hinata used to counter her last attack.

'Focus. You might not be as good as Neji-niisan with this, but it should still work' Hinata thought as she activated her Byakugan and managed to focus so that she only saw the chakra system of the person in front of her.

Once she was within her range, Hinata sprang into action and used the Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms on Guren. While there were only half as many strike as the normal version, that did not make any less effective as to compensate for lower number of strikes. Hinata's attack focused only on striking the areas that would deal out the most damage; this way, her thirty two strikes would have the same effect as the full on sixty four that her father and Neji were capable of.

Yet as Hinata stood back and deactivated her Byakugan, she noticed that what she had attacked and beaten was not the real Guren, but one of her crystal clone instead.

The real Guren then appeared from behind a tree and Hinata looked down noticing that the ground was glowing. In a flash of light later…Hinata was on the ground looking at the blond hair girl from the other day trapped inside a crystal prison. Though the most interesting thing she noticed was that the girl was wearing Naruto's orange and black jacket unzipped and with only sport bra on underneath the jacket.

"Seems like I managed to find one of the others that were following me, thanks to you," Guren said with a smirk since she did not expect this to happen. At first she was simply going to try and capture Hinata because she seemed like the easiest to catch with this place rendering her Byakugan useless.

"I know that you are out there. Come out here otherwise your friend is going to be shattered. Then I will kill this other girl as well!" Guren yelled. She now knew without a shadow of doubt that her companion was also here.

Just then, the dome surrounding them shattered, slammed in the ground, and kicked up a ton of dust from the landing even creating craters in the ground from her landing was the black hair girl she had met the other day.

0000000000000000000000000000

Shortly before the Guren used her Jade Crystal Labyrinth Technique….

Naruto had felt that something wrong about the area they were in now, thus he jumped up into the sky to get a better look at the surrounding area. While he still could not see or sense the strange feelings he was getting earlier, he did manage to see Team Ten along with someone with the First Hokage's abilities coming towards the area.

Naruto knew about Yamato abilities being from the First Hokage because Kyubi experienced them first hand. Madara lost control of nine tailed demon fox during the battle that would give birth to the Valley of the End. Having dozens of weapons impaled into his body did not improve his ability control Kyubi after all.

However on his way down, Naruto crashed into the dome while Hinata was fighting Guren. He was on top of the dome trying to figure out a way in without gaining everyone's attention since strangely enough their fight was almost exactly where Sakura was at the moment. Yet after seeing Sakura get captured by Guren, Naruto decided against finding a silent way in and just smash the dome to pieces with a one handed demonic Odama Rasengan.

0000000000000000000000000000

Thus leading up to what was going on right now with him (in disguised female form) looking at Guren.

"You really do not want to mess with me, so I suggest you simply released my friend and get the hell away from here," he told her.

"Do you really think that you are in the position to be ordering anyone around? I have your companion here hostage," Guren said as she formed a crystal blade on her arm and held towards Sakura's head.

She tried to trap Hinata in crystal prison as well but the jutsu was not working because the ground directly underneath Hinata was blocked somehow.

"I was hoping it did not come to this, but you asked for it. Ms. Hyuga, please go back to where your teammates are and stay there with them. I wouldn't want you to get caught up in this," the disguised Naruto told her.

Hinata just nodded and jumped back to where Kakashi and the rest of Team Eight were, having just arrived on the scene.

"Remember you asked for this. You've been warned!" he told her with closed eyes.

Guren, who was pissed that someone other then Orochimaru was attempt to order her around, was about to strike. Yet just then, Naruto opened his eyes and Guren was assaulted with a genjutsu where she felt her whole body being ripped to pieces and then crushed into dust while her feeling every second of it (pretty much she was experienced what Naruto had done to Sasori). Collapsing to the ground in dazed state, she felt the effects of the genjutsu which had felt like hours instead of a mere five seconds. Naruto freed Sakura and punted the dazed Guren to Rinji who came to help after seeing the dome collapse and his bats inform him of another team quickly moving in on Guren's location.

"Go before I change my mind," Naruto ordered him and man did just that.

Yet once Naruto's anger over what happened had vanished, he realized that Kakashi and Team Eight saw what he had done to Guren. He was so caught up in making her pay for threatening Sakura's life that he forgot about pretending to be a civilian in front of them.

'Oh Crap! This is not good,' Naruto thought that Sakura and he were in their disguised forms but they were wearing the same clothes that they would normally wear. Though that was not that much of problem for him, since he no longer wore orange and black outfit but an all black version of his usual orange pants and the shirt he normally wore under his jacket.

Yet the problem was with Sakura who was wearing only his jacket, that makeshift skirt he made, and just recently a sport bra since she originally had nothing on under the jacket which led to an embarrassing situation once he realized it.

"Where did your friend get that jacket and just who are you anyway? You cannot be a simple civilian. We just saw what you did to that purple haired woman!" Kiba asked as he still could shake the feeling that they were hiding something.

Hinata felt it too as she activated her Byakugan to see if that could clear up the mystery around these two anymore.

Naruto looked down for a second and it turned out that was just in time to notice Shikamaru's shadow trying to connect with his and Sakura thus jumping back enough to avoid getting caught by the Nara's jutsu.

"Troublesome as usual," Shikamaru sighed. There was no use hiding anymore now that his location was mostly likely revealed thanks to his jutsu failing.

Naruto then blocked Choji's attempt to capture him with his partial expansion jutsu while Sakura ducked in time to dodge Ino attempting to use the Shinranshin no Jutsu on her.

Seeing he was outnumbered and Yamato gave his bad feeling, Naruto immediately withdrew by grabbing Sakura and jumped away. There was no point in trying to pretend she was just a normal girl so no need to hold back.

"I guess that you guys were sent to be our back up, but what was with the attempt to capture those two girls?" Kakashi asked.

"Well we're relatively positive that those two girls were Naruto and Sakura in disguise. We are guessing from their actions and the clothes one of them was wearing," Yamato told him.

The news of this shocked Team Eight because they knew Naruto was not good at using the transformation into others yet he also managed to hide almost completely the fact that he was using one for the both of them since Sakura mostly likely was depending on Naruto for her disguise as her transformation abilities were not as good as Naruto's.

They were all certain now that the girls they met with Sazanami were also Naruto and Sakura, only using a different version of their current disguise, which only served to confuse them more. If Naruto had Sakura, then what was he doing by not coming back to the village? That was pretty much begging them to be label him a missing nin.

Ino remember that Shikamaru had information on Naruto that he had told her earlier and got him to inform everyone of else of what he knew.

"Anyways, it seems that Naruto is following the same people we are so it's more then likely that we will run into them again; but for now, I would like to be filled in on what going on here," Yamato said.


	19. Kabuto Arrives & Shikamaru Thoughts

"Oh, what have you here?" Kabuto said. He finally caught up with Guren and her group at the abandoned house they were using as their hideout on the orders of Orochimaru to help them once they had arrived to the destination which was large lake location about another day journey away from their current location.

"It seems that Guren and I must have overestimated your abilities if one of you were killed and Guren was attacked mentally like this," he said to Rinji after he noticed Gozu holding his gut. Nurai was no where to be seen, and a dazed Guren lay on the couch with Yukimaru holding her hand, hoping she would get better soon.

"Something we could not have expected happened," Rinji told him.

"So what happen to reduce Guren to this stage?" Kabuto asked Rinji.

"That's the thing none of us are sure of, but it appears that she was attacked by strong genjutsu. There is no sign of an attack on her so it must have been a mental attack done by this girl that is in the second group that has been following us," the brown hair man told him.

'Really? That's interesting. I did not think we would run into someone like that out here in the middle of nowhere. The chances of someone powerful to reduce Guren to this state could not just be idly passing through meaning they were purposely in the area. The question is just who are they? I too felt someone following me while I had Yukimaru with me earlier,' he thought before decided to take care of matter at hand first.

"Yukimaru, stand aside. I am going to heal Guren and then we are leaving. We need to get to our destination as fast as possible with news of this new development," Kabuto told the boy.

"So you can help Guren-san, right?" he asked worriedly to which Kabuto just nodded.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Back with Team Eight, Ten, Kakashi and Yamato….

"Hey, Shikamaru, what are you thinking about?" Ino asked when she noticed her old friend seeming to be lost in thought again while looking at outside the window to the house they were staying in.

Thanks to Yamato, the nine of them did not have to camp out on the ground. He used his wood jutsu to build them a house to stay overnight.

"I was just wondering something. If Sakura was captured in one of those crystals, then how was Naruto able to get her out so easily?" Shikamaru asked. According to the information they had from Pakkun and Kakashi, once trapped in one of those crystals, the victim is made a part of the crystal, so it should not be possible to get anyone out without killing them.

"Yeah I was wondering that as well. He just freed her like there was nothing to it," Ino said with a confused look on her face.

"It seems that Sakura has gained a few new abilities since we last saw her," Kakashi told them as he appeared behind them. He showed them that among the crystal dust that gathered on the ground where his former student had once been encased were small amounts black sand.

"Why would Naruto hide from us like that by using a transformation jutsu, and why has he come back if he found Sakura or at least told informed the Hokage that he has found her?" Ino sighed.

"Naruto being Naruto left to find Sakura without thinking about the consequences or not caring, but luckily, Tsunade-sama was and made finding her and Sasuke an official mission so he does not become a missing nin. I am guessing the Sasuke is part of the mission is what is keeping him from becoming a missing nin because the council would not have cared this long if it was just Sakura even though she is Tsunade's apprentice and worked at the hospital, meaning she possibly had access to things that should not be known outside Konoha," Shikamaru said. There seemed to be no point hiding now if they were going after Naruto as while as purple haired woman.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

I would like to thank:

King Hawke, RANMACAT, and QueenThayet12990 for reviewing this story

Alex Warlorn for reviewing Chapter 9,12,15, and 16

Safirus Lunaria, EspyLacopa, and Archangel2016 for adding this story to their Story Alert list

Archangel2016, OxoXHakudoshiXoxO, itasakusasufan, Sailor Yin Yang, molhant, and shadowjettailsclub for adding this story to their Favorite story list

Cherry Blossom Sakura Community Rated T-M No Yuri or Yaoi for adding me to their C2 Archive


	20. Enter the Three Tailed Demon

A couple of days later near by a secluded lake….

"What's with all this fog?" Naruto sighed. It did not really affect his view of things, but he was wondering how all this water vapor would effect Sakura though.

The red tint blond was sure that Sasori must have used something to waterproof Sakura, himself, and his other 'creations' since it was not likely that he simply avoided water completely, which was close to impossible and that would be a huge weakness in battle as well.

Sakura merely titled her head because she was once again unable to understand fully the thoughts she was getting from Naruto in her state, thus she just patted him on the back.

'Interesting, so this where they were heading,' Naruto thought as he look out over the lake.

From what he could see with his enhanced vision, thanks to his merger with Kyuubi, was that Guren, Kabuto, and their group were on the other side of the lake just like he wanted. Tricking the bats set up around the area was almost too easy from him now.

"Just one of the many advantage to being a demon, I guess," Naruto shrugged. Just like everything else in life, there was good and bad in everything that happens.

Naruto then began walking out on to the lake and notice that Sakura was following after him.

"Sorry, Sakura, but you have to say here. As much as I do not like to do this, leaving you alone after spending so much time looking for you is not something that I really want to do. However, there is no telling just what would happen out there. I also have no idea what the extent of the waterproofing Sasori has done to your wooden body so just stay here until I get back, okay?" Naruto told her. Sakura simply nodded and sat down on the near a yard or two away from the lake's edge.

"Though if anyone tries to take you, defend yourself, but do not kill them and make sure that you do not get wet," Naruto added.

To which Sakura nodded once again as she sat there watching Naruto head towards where he could see Kabuto, Guren, Yukimaru, and Gozu in the middle of the lake.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000

In the middle of the lake, thanks to Yukimaru's power which happen to be the ability to summon the Three Tail Demon which took the form of a giant turtle. They did just that and were now attempting to capture it though this attempt was turning out to be a complete failure. Gozu's strength, while proving to be somewhat useful in allowing him to lift and temporarily stop the Three Tails, was ultimately proven useless as he was overpowered by the demon. As for Guren and her crystal jutsus, which Orochimaru thought would be effect as the three tails. They proved to be useless as well with everything she threw at the turtle shattering on impact, getting crushed under its weight, or dealt with by the tailed beast's chakra alone before she or whatever jutsu she used could even get closer enough to do anything in first place.

Kabuto was about leave Guren and the others high and dry to let them deal with the beast while he informed Orochimaru of the success in summoning the tailed demon but the failure in capturing it. Though before he could do that, he noticed a black hair girl walking towards the one sided battle that being waged now in one on one match between Guren and three tailed demon.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Kabuto yelled at girl who he remembered from the bookstore where he bought the latest copy of Icha Icha, yet not as Naruto since he did not recognize him in his disguise form (which started using soon after heading over here).

"Shut up and sit down," Naruto said emitting enough killer intent that Orochimaru's right hand man found himself doing as he was told instinctually for some reason beyond him.

"You again!" Guren growled as she did not forget how this girl (from her point of view) managed to take her down so easily and quickly.

This turned out to be mistake because the lapse in focus got her slapped by one of the giant turtle's three tails and sent her shooting in the water like a bullet.

With Guren out for the count, at least for the moment, the turtle demon turn its attention towards Naruto, letting out a loud roar which shook the water creating waves and knocking everyone but him off their feet.

Naruto then just glared at the demon and everyone watched as the giant turtle froze in its tracks and actually began back away a little.

What no one was able to see was that along with Naruto's glare the three tails was also seeing a image of Naruto in his full Kyuubi form standing right behind him similar to what Sasuke's saw the first time Naruto using his one tailed form during their fight in the Valley of the End.


	21. One Side Battle: 3 Tails vs 9 Tails

"Hey, Sempai, did you feel that?" Tobi asked.

After Sasori's untimely demise, he was promoted to being a formal member of the Akatsuki, where he was then paired with Deidara and two were traveling, looking for the Three Tailed Demon since that had been their latest assignment from their leader.

"Of course I felt that!" Deidara yelled. What idiot could not feel Kyuubi's chakra being released just a moment ago?

Rushing to the spot where they felt the Kyuubi's chakra coming from, the two members of the Akatsuki arrived at the lake where they happened to come across Guren's subordinates.

The three remain members of Guren's team foolishly attempted to stop Deidara and Tobi from going out on the lake. A huge explosion later and the two Akatsuki members continued on the lake, leaving the charred remains of Guren's team scattered across large crater that were later washed away during the resulting wave from a 360 degrees tidal wave technique the three tailed demon unleashed from the center of the lake carried him away while Deidara and Tobi escaped getting wet with one of Deidara's clay birds at the last second.

Flying through the fog and to the center of the lake, they saw the three tail turtle running towards like it was running away from something only to be stopped dead in it tracks.

Swooping down, the two found that the legendary demon was being stopped by a girl that had a fox-like charka aura surrounding her body.

"What this chick doing with Kyuubi's chakra? Only the blond brat is supposed to have it," Deidara asked himself out loud.

"That is Naruto," Tobi said in manner that was complete out of character from him, catching his partner's attention.

"Mind repeating that again? Unless I'm hearing things, you sounded like a different person just now," the blond missing nin from Iwagukure asked.

"I said that is Naruto, Senpai. He just using a really good Henge," Tobi told him.

Meanwhile on the lake's surface, Naruto was holding the one of the tails of the giant turtle he had been looking for. Yukimaru was only someone he was interested in because he had chakra similar to Three Tails, but now that he had the three tails, he did not need to worry about him anymore. Not to say that he did not care about the kid and how Orochimaru was using him, but right now, Sakura was his number propriety. This demon had information he wanted to know in helping Sakura. First, he needed to get him out his mindless state he was in from being overrun by his own power before he was even able to tell him what he wanted.

Just when he was about to go for the knock out blow with his opponent, he noticed something familiar. Something that made him very angry at the same time. On a bird seemly made of clay was Deidara. While he was pretty pissed off at the clay user at the moment, all of his anger was directed towards the person sitting behind him; the one with the orange mask covering his face. This rage he was feeling he guessed was from Kyuubi as he never seen this person before but it seemed the nine tails had. With a quick swipe of his charka tail which grew to the size twenty times it was originally, he swiped it at them with lighting speed, knocking them into the distance.

Then he went about bringing the still trying to escape three tail back to him and drove a giant Yoko Rasengan (Demon Fox Rasengan) straight into the gut of gigantic turtle, knocking it out cold. After that he performed a number of hand seals, he jumped over to the demon head and slammed his hands against it, leaving a seal that caused the demon to be covered in a puff of smoke. When the smoke vanished, what was left behind was, strangely enough, a twelve year old body with light green hair and scar over his left eye (the one that always seen closed).

"Idiot, it's amazing you lasted this long in the mindless state," Naruto sighed as he threw the boy over his shoulder and began heading back to where Sakura was since he needed to get out here. That orange masked guy was trouble. He did not know how since he did not have time to search through Kyuubi's memories (now his own thanks to their merger) to find out, but only a few humans made Kyuubi hold that much angry towards them and that guy was one of them.


	22. What Team 8,10, and Sakura are doing

While Guren's subordinate was having the misfortune of coming across Deidara and Tobi and Naruto was off beating the three tail demon, Team Eight and Ten with Kakashi and Yamato taking the place of their Jonin Sensei luckily were not on the same side of the lake as them, thus they never ran into either the Akatsuki members or Guren's group. They happened to come from the middle area that was between where Guren's group was and where Sakura was currently sitting awaiting Naruto's return.

Though they avoided getting into a fight with Guren's group again and two Akatsuki members what this six ninja team (normal called six man team, there were two kunoichi with them) that could possibly avoid was the 360 degree tidal wave technique that the Three Tailed Demon unleashed, separating the six of them when the tidal wave hit shore.

"What the hell was that?" Kiba yelled as he and Akamaru popped up from large bed of under water weed that washed up onshore.

"That surely could not been could have been natural!" Ino said, wringing her hair out.

"Say, Hinata, what do you see out there?" Kiba asked. Hinata had just finished plucking lake plant life out her hair.

"Byakugan!" Hinata said as the veins around her eyes bulged and her irises became more profound and easier to see.

Though it was only for a second, she fell to her feet over the sight out there on the lake.

"Hinata, what happened? What's out there?" Kiba asked, worried because his teammate seemed visibly shaken by what she saw out there.

"The Kyuubi! He's out there. I saw him standing in Naruto-kun's shadow as he was staring down the Three Tailed Demon, if I had to guess," Hinata told him.

"Wait, the Kyuubi? But the Fourth Hokage killed the nine tailed demon sixteen years ago," Ino said confused.

"No, he did not. Naruto is the Jinchuriki of Kyuubi. It explains why his birth date is on the date of Kyuubi's 'death', why he was able to relate to Gaara, a fellow Jinchuriki at the time, so well, and mostly the reason he able to use Kage Bunshin on regular basis and in the numbers that he does," Shikamaru sighed, having arrived from the forest since he thrown further back then them.

"Wait, Naruto has Kyuubi sealed in him? Why did not he bother to tell us then? We're his friends after all!" Ino yelled hurt and angry.

"Think about, Ino. Would you really have befriended Naruto if you knew from the start what was inside him? We all saw how that turned out in Gaara's case. Sure people came to accept him, but it took over a decade and during that time he was unaccepted by Suna he went crazy. Luckily for Suna, they only had the one tailed demon. Imagine what would happen if Naruto turned out like Gaara. The village sure did not give him a reason not to be. Also give him a chance at not having the burden of Jinchuriki. Everyone was told the whole 'Fourth killed the nine tails' lies. If humans were truly able to kill Kyuubi, why hadn't someone else had tried it before?" Shikamaru stated.

"What a minute! You knew this whole time? How and why did not you mention it sooner?" Ino yelled.

"Too Troublesome," Shikamaru sighed and dodged an enraged Ino's strikes at him.

"Shikamaru-san, Ino-san…I saw Sakura not too far from here. Maybe we can get her to help us convince Naruto-kun to come back with us," Hinata spoke up.

"Good idea, Hinata. If we can get Sakura on our side, then Naruto shouldn't be that hard to convince," Kiba said.

0000000000000000000000000000000

Meanwhile, Sakura was continuing to wait for Naruto to get back in the same place she had been since he left. However when the tide wave came her way, rather then running for cover or jumping up into the tree to try and avoid it that way, Sakura simply used her Iron Sand to cover herself completely while the wave passed by.

"Hey, Sakura, we…" Kiba began to say. He moved to place his hand on her shoulder to get her attention and black sand appeared to block the attempt.

'Okay, that was strange,' Kiba thought. The last time he checked, only Gaara had sand that attacked as a defense mechanism.

Hinata then tried and received a similar treatment after her attempt to get the pink hair teen's attention.

"Hey, Forehead, what's your….problem?" Ino said, gulping as she found herself staring at the wrong end of a very large and seemly heavy blade Sakura brought out in an instant. Apparently being called by her old nickname from Ino sparked a response from Sakura similar to when Naruto thought about her doing something perverted for the first time.

Removing the blade from Ino's face, she began heading back to where Naruto had told to wait for him, only to see Kiba in the spot.

"Hey, stop ignoring us! We're trying to talk to you here!" he yelled while Shikamaru was thinking about what was wrong with Sakura's behavior.

Picking up Kiba and depositing him away from her spot, she turned to see now it was Akamaru who got in the way. The simplistic thought process she was capable came up with one conclusion to what was going on here. They were getting in her way trying because they wanted to taken her away from here, thus she needed to fight them to defend herself and stay where Naruto told her.

Thus Sakura vs. Kiba, Hinata, and Ino began with Shikamaru still trying to figure out what was going on since there was more going on there then meets the eye.

Though she was refraining from using her full power as per what Naruto told her, Sakura was more then able to hold her own against the three of them. She managed to catch Kiba's and Akamaru's Gatsūga with her hands coated in Iron Sand, enlarging them enough for her to do so. While stopping the Gatsūga with her hands, she defended herself from Hinata's attack with her tail, which shocked them all because they thought it was just a belt she was wearing.

Ino then tried her own jutsu to control Sakura's body yet that did not work. She dropped out a bomb from her hand to prevent this from happening. Yet this tactic left her wide open to Hinata's Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms which struck her with pin point accuracy but not with lethal force or intent as she had when she used the move on Guren. However, just like with Nurari, the Gentle Fist had no effect on Sakura. She did not have chakra points or even organs to strike, being a human puppet after all.

The disguised pink hair human puppet was about to go on the offensive again after shrugging of Hinata's attack which did small structural damage when Jiraiya appeared seemly out of nowhere and placed a seal on Sakura's forehead, causing her to collapsing to the ground in motionless heap.

"I'll being taking Sakura now, so do not worry about it anymore. Go see if Kakashi and the others need help," the Sanin told them as lifted the motionless girl over his shoulder noticed that along with the seal made especially from sealing Naruto's demonic chakra that her weight was slightly off for someone of her build and size.

0000000000000000000000000000000

I would like to thank:

King Hawke, RANMACAT, and QueenThayet12990 for reviewing Chapter 19

mycroft216 and HCVquizibo for adding this to their Favorite story list


	23. Naruto finds Sakura is gone

"I am still in shock that you managed to let your power control you. You attempted to obtain a third tail way too soon," Naruto (back as his normal self) sighed. It must have been one of the many unexplained thing in the world that how someone like three tail currently in human form could avoid being captured completely while every other tailed demon had at least been sealed once.

As Naruto heading back to shore, he noticed Yukimaru struggling to swim with an unconscious Guren and was barely keeping both of them afloat.

Naruto may have change a little from Sakura being taken by Sasori and his merger with Kyuubi, but he was not just going to sit back and let these two die before his very eyes since it was clear the kid was getting tired and there was a good chance that he would not make it back to shore.

'Huh?' Yukimaru thought as he was lifted out he water with Guren still in his grasp.

He threw Yukimaru over his other shoulder and held Guren in a chakra tail that prevented her movements since he did not want her waking up and pointlessly try to attack him. Since her moves had no effect on the three tail in his true form, they surely would not effect him a demon that had six additional tails.

"Why are you helping us?" Yukimaru asked. He was sure this was the person that hurt Guren-san but couldn't understand why.

"If you want, I can drop you both back into the lake and continue walking away like I was thinking about doing," Naruto said, which was slightly different then what he would have said a year ago but things happened to change that.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Arriving back on shore where he left Sakura, he found that she was not there and the only person there was in fact Gozu.

"Where is Sakura?" Naruto growled. He dumped Guren on the ground and Yukimaru as well.

"That girl sitting here? She was taken by the Frog Sanin after getting into some Konoha ninjas but who are you and why do you care?" he asked. He too ended over here after the tidal wave but kept himself out of sight as he was outnumbered four to one.

"None of your business!" Naruto said angrily. He was still feeling that rage over seeing that guy in the orange mask and it was clearly affecting his actions at the moment so he tried to keep his cool, otherwise he might lose it.

Dumping the three tails in human form on the ground, he raised his foot and stomped down on the boy's stomach, causing him to cough a little blood in the process.

"What the hell the matter with you? That really hurt!" the green hair boy yelled before looking around wondering where he was.

"Where am I?" he asked only see three humans and gulped when he felt a frightening presence behind him.

"You can not remember anything that happened, can you?" Naruto asked.

He just nodded his head as he was wondering what he was talking about. Then it hit him as the last thing he remembered that happened was him finally getting his third tail then nothing.

"That's right, you stupid turtle. You lost control of yourself and have been wandering around the world no better then wild animal since then. If it was not for me, your ass would have been captured by the Akatsuki!" Naruto yelled.

"You seem familiar, but I am sure that we have not met before," the kid that was really the three tail turtle in human form asked.

"To make a long story short, let's just say that Kyuubi was sealed in me after birth, and then because of certain events, he merged with me, leaving me with his memories and power" Naruto told him. "By the way, my name is Naruto and your name is Ryo, right?"

"So what do you want from me anyway and why did you help me?" Ryo asked.

"I'll tell you later, but right now, you are coming with me or I could remove the seal keeping your excess powers in check and you try your luck at avoiding being captured again with the intelligence of wild beast" Naruto told him and Ryo simply agreed to follow after him.

"Oh, and if any of you tell Orochimaru about anything that happened here just now and I will hunt you down and do to you what I showed Guren over there a few days ago in a genjustu" Naruto said to Gozu and Yukimaru with enough killer intent to awake Guren, knock out Yukimaru, and cause Gozu to crap his pants.


	24. Confronting Jiraiya

Jiraiya sighed as he laid Sakura down on the couch in one of the private homes he owned throughout the elemental countries. He took Naruto's money from time to time in order to pay for sake, spend on woman, or other things. Because of the popularity of his Icha Icha series, he was fairly wealthy though he did not like showing it off so he pretty much kept it to himself how much money he actually had or how much he had on him when he traveled. Though he was used to camping out in the woods or spending time in hotel when he did not feel like it, there was just something about having your own place that led him to purchase a few over the years.

As Jiraiya looked over Sakura and she remained motionless, not having moved even one inch since place the seal he made for stopping Naruto's demonic chakra before he could go four tails and go berserk again.

'Why would something like this have an effect on Sakura, and moreover, why has it caused her to stop moving all together?' he thought then something came to him as he remembered how she simply shrugged off Hinata's Gentle Fist strikes like they were nothing even if there were a few bruises on her body from them.

Carefully looking around and closing Sakura's eyes which been wide open and staring at nothing this whole time, he placed his ear against her chest to see if he could hear her heartbeat. Jiraiya had his ear to her where the heart should be and listened…and listened…and listened; however, he did not hear a single thing. Of course he could not hear heartbeat as she did not have one being made of wood she did not even have a heart to produce the beat in the first place. Though not knowing this, Jiraiya then hurriedly checked her pulse which was nothing as well of course which then caused him be alarmed slightly since no heartbeat and no pulse meant that Sakura was dead.

Yet something else came to mind while he thought about all the information he managed to get from his informant network ever since Sakura had been captured by Sasori. While Naruto managed to escape from his reach of his network, which did not really surprise him that much. This was a kid that at twelve years old managed to paint all four of the face on the Hokage Mountain and then avoid being captured. Then only few days later managed to steal the Forbidden Scroll and get away without being caught by anyone but Iruka, who pretty skilled himself as he was able to find both time when everyone else had failed. Sasori, on the other hand, was not that hard to find as it not really that hard not to find him. When you walk around in black cloak with red clouds on them almost all the time in public, there a chance someone will notice you. That's what happened with Sasori as for the information he got from that informant was Sakura was acting strange. She doing things she would normally never do and was often seen with Sasori's arms over her shoulder and an indifferent blank expression that never seemed to leave her face regards of what she was doing.

Thinking on what Sasori was that being a puppet master that transformed though he captured into human puppet also being a human puppet himself, what was really keeping him from doing the same to Sakura as Naruto, Tsunade, and even his own thoughts were that they would not do that and simply hold her hostage as bait for Naruto. Though as time passed, the possibility of that seemed less and also another things cross his mind. What if instead of keeping her as a human, the Akatsuki let Sasori convert Sakura into a member of his 'collection' then use a simple Henge no Jutsu along with a genjutsu on her to make her appear as if she was still normal when they planned to use her as bait for Naruto? The kid was still weak against genjutsu so it could easily fool him into thinking that she was still fine.

Going over to where the Sakura was laying, he went through a number of hand signs and then placed his hand on the seal on her head and dispelled the advanced Henge no Jutsu that Sakura had cast on her by Naruto using the power of the seal to boost his attempt. He guessed it was stronger then a normal Henge no Jutsu.

He was slightly disappointed because did not want to be right, but he saw Sakura's wooden body and the 'bruises' really being cracks on her instead.

"Guess this explains why Naruto did not at least leave Sakura back at the village even if he did think he was missing nin. The only way he would not left Sakura at Konoha was that if something like this had happened to her," The frog Sanin sighed.

"That right, Ero-Sanin. Now I want Sakura back. I did not go through all the trouble of saving this kid to lose her now," Naruto said as he stood against an opened window with Ryo at his side.

"Wait, that kid is the three tailed demon?" his sensei asked as the last thing he knew that his student was doing was dealing with the turtle demon.

"Of course I am the great….owww! What that for?" Ryo asked as Naruto popped him in the head.

"You're just an upstart demon that lost control of yourself once you gained a third tail and lucked out that I was there, otherwise you would have been captured by the Akatsuki as those idiots from Orochimaru did not stand a chance. I am shocked that out of all the tailed demons, only you, the one that was out of control, remained unsealed the longest," the red tinted blond told him.

"So, Ero-Sanin, are you going to hand over Sakura or do I have to take her?" Naruto asked.

"Well, there's not much Tsunade or I can do to help her at the moment, so take her," the Sanin said. He knew taking Sakura back to Konoha like this was dangerous since there was a possibility they were just see her as a thing. Something to be taken a part and examine to see just what made it possible for her to being this way. That or simply treat her as if she was some sort of weapon which he was sure that Danzo would want.

"So you are just letting me take her and go? I am missing nin, right? Why are you simply letting me take Sakura away even though she is Tsunade's apprentice and has number of her secrets as well?" Naruto asked.

"Simple. It's because you are not missing nin as Tsunade guessed you would run off like this and, luckily for you, made it an official mission for you to find Sakura and Sasuke. Though the council is getting antsy as neither one of the you are their precious Uchiha so they all ready to have both made into missing nin, despite the fact that losing you two would potentially hurt Konoha far more in the long run then simply the loss of Sasuke," Jiraiya told him.

'I have to thank baa-chan after I have gotten Sakura back to normal,' Naruto thought. That was the reason he never saw his picture in any bingo books or posted on wanted wall for bounty hunters.

"Though, there is one thing I would like to know before you go, Naruto," his sensei asked.

"Yeah, what is it?" he responded.

"What happened to your seal and why is Sakura's movement seemly connected to Kyuubi's chakra? Despite being a human puppet, she was moving, even fighting against Hinata, Kiba, and Ino, but stopped the moment I placed the same seal I would on you while we were training to control your tailed form," the Frog Sanin asked.

"Ryo, close that window and come here. This is going to take awhile," Naruto sighed as he became explaining what happened between his battle with Sasori and what happens as result.

'I cannot say that he did not deserve that, but what a way to go!' Jiriaya thought as he heard how Naruto had Sakura get their revenge on Sasori for all he done to them by making genjutsu that made him think he was human again and able to feel pain then rip him to pieces and grinding them into dust bit by bit.

"You ripped the seal off and let Kyuubi out? What if you hadn't come out on top in the merger and Kyuubi was the one that had instead?" Jiraiya asked.

"Well, at that moment, I truly did not care. All I wanted was for Sasori to die and die as painfully a death as possible. I was screwed either way really. I would have died from the Akatsuki taking Kyuubi out of me like Gaara had or die from releasing Kyuubi myself. At least by doing the latter, the Akatsuki wouldn't have been able to get their hands on Kyuubi as easily and my revenge on Sasori would be complete," Naruto told him.

"Already, next question: What is up Sakura? How can she move on her own despite how she is right now?" Sanin asked curiously.

"It seems to be side effect of the jutsu I used to make so I would not have to carry her everywhere and Sasori's own sick human puppet conversion process which is a fusion of the human and demonic puppetry. It did something to awaken her consciousness, at least partially, and that is part of the reason I went looking for Ryo. The three tailed demon has knowledge of all kind of puppetry jutsu, both human and demonic, to make a way that would fully awaken Sakura's consciousness," he explained to his teacher and Ryo as well who was wondering how he could repay Naruto for saving him and helping him regain control of himself.

"Interesting. Well, among the three of us, I am sure that we will come up with something," Jiraiya said.

"Wait, you are going to help us? But…" Ryo started before Naruto stopped him.

"Ero-Sanin is seal master that taught the person who sealed Kyuubi into me back when I was a baby, so he would be a great deal of help," Naruto told him. It was kind of weird referring to talk about Kyuubi and himself individually now since he had merged with the nine tails.

With all this settled, the process to create something that would allow Sakura's consciousness to become fully awake finally began.


	25. Sakura Fully Conscious

"I see. So that's what happened. You're telling me that Kakashi and Yamato allowed this girl, that for some reason has the power of the nine tailed demon, to get away with the three tailed demon?" Danzo asked. He and the council demanded to get the report on what happened at the isolated lake straight from Tsunade herself.

"What were they to do? They were out numbered and out powered. Did you really expect that two Jonins and six Chunins to fight and win against a girl with the power of nine tails and more control of that power then Naruto has ever shown? A girl that, on her own, sent two Akatsuki members flying like they flies buzzing around her head and defeated the three tailed demon in one hit," Tsunade asked in return.

"Also, according to the report, it seems that Jiraiya entered the area, took this girl's partner, but he has not arrived back here in Konoha yet. Why is that? Is there something more to this report that you are not telling us?" Koharu asked, curious as to why Tsunade's teammate would do something like this.

"It's rather simple. The reason behind that is: do we really want someone with the power of the nine tails under their control coming to Konoha as our enemy? We all are well aware of what happened when the Kyuubi came sixteen years ago, as it night that can be easily forget by anyone that lived through it" the Fifth Hokage said.

"What about the report that your missing apprentice and the demon being spotted in the area?" Danzo asked, somehow knowing of Team Ten and Yamato's own mission in addition to serving as back for Kakashi and Team Eight.

"The reports are right there for you to see. It was only a false alarm. It was that girl using her power that had been spotted and not Naruto and Sakura. Also, I just got a report from Naruto telling me that he was in the middle of tracking Sasuke with Sakura and remaining hidden to do so. If Orochimaru, Sasuke, or any other Sound nin learned of his location, tracking them would have been all that much harder since they will know where he coming from," the blond Hokage informed them.

'She is hiding something. I know it!' Danzo thought. She left the room. The demon and pink hair brat were variables that he wanted out of the picture if he wanted to re-make Konoha to his vision of it.

The last time he made the mistake of leaving his rival's student alone thinking they would not get in the way of his plan, the plan backfired when the Third died, and rather then offering him the title of Hokage, they gave that chance to Jiraiya who later suggested Tsunade. He thought that it was fool's errand since at the time he was sure that there was no way Tsunade would accept either and that he would be the mostly likely person to choose next because he had a reputation in the village that rivaled the Sanin and the last two Hokage in addition to be the Third's rival for the position. Somehow, Tsunade had accepted the title. Not only that, but she returned just as he was about to take the title for himself.

This was not the first time that Jiraiya had tried to get Tsunade to come back, so what was so different that he not only got her to come back, but become Hokage as well? Then it struck him. It was the demon brat that made the difference. Tsunade then took on his useless teammate as her apprentice and he thought not of her at first since she below above average in everything but chakra control and book smarts compared to the rest of her graduating class. Yet to his shock, she turned into second Tsunade in only two and half years, thus becoming a threat to his plan as history was seemly repeating itself. It was most likely that the demon brat or his no longer useless teammate would be offered the title of Hokage over him.

Thus when they both were out the village, it was reasonable that he wanted them declared missing nin as a way of knocking out any opposition to his chances of being the Sixth Hokage. He probably would not live or be in any condition to be the Seventh Hokage.

As for Tsunade, she collapsed in the chair inside her office and thought back to the true version of what happened in the Land of Water as well what happened to the two people she thought of as her family.

'Naruto, I know you will find a way to turn Sakura back to normal. You are not Konoha's Number One Ninja at Surprising People for nothing,' Tsunade thought and she also smiled at the fitting punishment that Sasori had received for what he did to Sakura.

000000000000000000000000000000000000

"Okay, are you sure that this seal is going to work, Naruto-sensei?" Ryo asked.

"Of course it will work! The three of us worked on this for weeks, you know, and have carefully thought out every bit of this seal," Naruto said.

While Jiraiya who was watching the two of them felt a sense of pride that Naruto was taking things he had taught him and applying them to Ryo training in learning to control his own powers rather then let them control him, something that Naruto began doing whenever the three of them were not working on the seal for Sakura.

"This the combination of all our skills in regards to seals and Kugutsu. This is going to work," Naruto said confidently. On paper, everything seemed to make sense, but this was something that had never been attempted before.

Beyond the three gathered around the table where seal blueprint lying on a table was Sakura the one that would be getting this seal. During the last couple of weeks, they did various test to try and get feel of what Sasori's hybrid form of Kugutsu did to Sakura exactly without causing her any damage if possible.

After another two days of talking and making various adjustments to the seal and the jutsu that be used, it was finally time to get down to business.

Sakura's jacket and sport bra had been removed because the seal was going to be carved right where her heart used to be. Ink was a first option, but it was also possible that it could be washed off or smeared. The way they were doing it by carving the seal into her would make it become a part of her like the seal on her forearm and hands. During a test they held after learning of Sakura's ability to repair herself with her own chakra as conversion of sort of her own medical ninjutsu, they then tested a theory that she could also repair seals carved on her forearms and damaged them, only to watch in amazement as she repaired the area and back to its original condition that included the seal on her arm as well. Yet this only seemed to work for the four seals she had craved on her arms and forearms as other seals that were painted on vanished when she repaired the area they were in.

There was a painstaking hour and half where Naruto carefully and slowly carved the seal on the area where Sakura's heart once was with a Shadow Clone wiping the sweat from his brow and another one going over the jutsu that would be used are the seal was done as last minute prep.

Naruto let out a sigh of relief. He was finished craved the seal with one of his claw cover in his charka as he found his hand to shaking to use any tools.

'Now for the test to see if the seal will stay,' Naruto thought. He had Sakura sit for awhile and attempted to repair the area over her heart, when nothing happened and the seal remained. Naruto sent the shadow clone that helped him keep his sweat from dropping onto Sakura to get the other that doing the last minute prep with the jutsu. A minute later, Naruto had obtained the knowledge of his two Shadow Clones after they dispelled. This was something that learned from Jiraiya who told him one of the previous unknown benefits of the Kage Bunshin to him.

Taking a deep breath a few times to calm his mind, Naruto then went about going through the hand sign of the jutsu to go along with Sakura's seal and then once he had gone through them all, his hand glowed with red and blue. Naruto then pressed them against the seal that was carved into Sakura's chest as if he was about to give her CPR, yet simply kept his hand there, pushing his charka into the seal for about ten minutes nonstop. Once he was nearing the end of the ten minutes, his head was feeling light and he passed out on top of her.

When Naruto woke up again, the first thing he saw was the puppet girl staring at him. At first he had thought he had failed. He knew he passed out and fell on the Sakura puppet after finishing the jutsu.

'It did not work,' Naruto said to himself.

He was sure that he had failed because if it worked the way he wanted, Sakura would not just be staring at him same vacant expression that he had seen he found her being used as nothing more then a thing by Sasori.

As Naruto was dwelling over the failure of the jutsu and thinking about how to do it right next time, Naruto then noticed that she blinked and realized that he was lying on her.

"What's going on here and why are you lying on top of me, Naruto?" Sakura asked as she spoke her first sentence let alone words in almost a year.

Naruto jumped off her started babbling a bunch nonsense that was lost on Sakura.

Sakura sat up on the table and noticed that she was topless, yet did not realize she was not human because the anger that clouded her mind over Naruto laying on her while she did not have a top on.

"Naaaaarrrrruuuttttto!!!" Sakura growled. She did not know what was going on but she did not like it.

"I…" Naruto started to say before Sakura punched him in the face with one of her charka and Iron Sand enhanced punches.

"Sensei, I-umph!" Ryo said as he was coming to check on his sensei as he heard a voice that did not belong to Naruto. As he opened the door, he was struck by the flying Naruto who continued to fly off out the door and through another door (that Jiraiya had opened after hear Sakura's angry in saying Naruto's name) into the distance.

It was here that Sakura realized what was going on and wondered just what was going on. How did she get here? She looked at her hands and remembered what had happened. She had lost to Sasori and was trapped in cage and then Sasori forced her to walk towards him by controlling her like a puppet.

Sakura then looked to see that kid and Jiraiya just outside the room she was in, but before she could even begin to question them, she just collapsed to the ground.

"Hey, Ryo, go over there and check to see if she is okay," the Frog Sanin said.

"Me? why me?!" Ryo yelled as he rubbed his chin which Naruto slammed into before he continued going.

"I am human and you are a demon, thus I am pretty sure that you could heal from whatever she does better then me. The last time I pissed off someone like that, they beat me within an inch of my life and that same person is the one that Sakura calls sensei," Jiraiya told him.

"She'd better have good explanation for this!" Ryo said as he poked at Sakura, yet she did not move in the slightest and then managed to roll her on to her back to see that the seal that was red while she was moving was now black.

"Quickly roll her back over to her stomach. That's why if she gets up before Naruto get back, she might not get mad at us," Jiraiya told the three tailed demon.

000000000000000000000000000

Later….

Jiraiya was keeping his distance from Sakura and was telling Ryo to do the same. According to what he was told by Tsunade after he told that he was going to find Naruto in order to find out what happened to the seal, Sakura had become sort of a queen of knee-jerk reactions during the time that Naruto and him were on their training journey. She started expressing what she was actually feeling more often by that also meant she got more violent as well since most her knee-jerk like reactions dealt with hitting something or someone. From what he was told, this at first caused quite a bit of problems as she would hit who people that insulted Naruto or Sasuke in her presence and with her control of her strength she gained not yet being second instinct yet, she put quite a few people in hospital. It took training with Rock Lee and Tsunade's guidance that she managed to get her most of her violence knee-jerk reactions under control, but those dealing with Naruto and him were too deeply rooted in her psyche and personality so they could not remove them.

When Sakura's body began to move, Jiraiya made sure that he and Ryo were nowhere near the area. He did not know what her new range of attack was and he was not taking any chances that either one of them would get caught in her sights. He saw what she did to Naruto, who he was sure would have need a hospital from the sheer force of her punch if he was not Kyuubi at the moment.

'What happened?' Sakura thought as she began to pull herself up off the floor and noticed that this looked like the floor to someone's house, not her own bed after going to sleep once having got some ramen with Naruto and Kakashi-sensei like her last memories were….but wait! Those were not her last memories. She could vaguely remember others all of them dealing with Naruto and trying to be of use to him.

'Why can't I remember them clearly?' she thought. They were all fuzzy and vague but she knew they happened and couldn't place any of them.

Then the only clear memory she had of Naruto came rushing back to her and she was confused by what he doing when she had come to the last time.

'Naruto, what were you…huh?' Sakura continued to think until she notice that Naruto's jacket, the black and orange one, she saw him wearing ever since he came back from his training trip with Jiraiya, was lying on her back.

She brought the jacket into her arms and hugged it as for some reason she felt really possessive of this jacket but it was not her, so why did she feel like it was when it really was Naruto's?

It was then that she realized that she did not have a top on as she held out the jacket, trying to remember why she felt it belong to her. She noticed her undress state and immediately threw on the jacket to cover up as best she could.

"Wait a minute! Are these really my hands?" Sakura asked herself out loud as she looked to see that her hand were segmented and wooden just like puppet or marionette.

The pink hair chunin then noticed a reflective surface. She stood up and wobbly made her way over there, feeling strange and light headed, but that seemed to fade with every pasting moment for some reason.

Holding the object reflecting her image back at her with one hand, she then brought her other hand up to her face and touched it, only to feel nothing at all. She tried pinched herself but that was no good. She knocked on her cheek and heard it made the sound of someone knocking on wood.

She then looked down at her bare chest where the only thing she had covering her upper half of her body was her/Naruto's jacket. She repeated the same process as with her face with her stomach only to get the same results.

Sakura's mind was racing over the possibility of what this meant had happened to her in the gap in her memory between being captive of the bastard Sasori and being with Naruto.

Though before her mind could thinking to long on that possibility, her attention was caught by the three people talking just outside where she was currently, wherever here was.

"Hey, sensei, you are back! Man, did that violent gorilla-like girl punch you far away! Are you sure that the two of friends after what she just did to you?" Sakura heard the voice of what seem to be a young kid said.

"Actually, that's remnants of the Tsunade's thousand meter punch. She hit me with it one time while we were coming back from a mission," a voice she recognized as Jiraiya said.

"Wait, you were punched a thousand meter, lived, and still consider this person to be your friend after all that?" the kid asked in a shocked tone.

"It was a good thing she did that to me. Because of that punch, I managed to find Myouboku Mountain and train with the frogs there," Jiraiya told him.

"Yeah well, Sakura's version was twice the distance and I landed in river with strong current that quickly sweep me downstream before I could wake up again," Naruto sighed.

"And you still consider this girl your friend?" the kid asked and Naruto replied positively in response.

'Sakura…just Sakura, but what happened to Sakura-chan?' she thought as for some reason, this was very upsetting for her.

She then felt someone lightly shaking her and placed her hand on theirs to get them to stop only then noticing that it was Naruto doing it.

"Naruto, what's going on? Where are we? Why do I look like this, and who is that kid?" Sakura asked, looking scared and confused

"You do not remember what happened, Sakura?" Naruto asked confused as were Jiraiya and Ryo who were sure that Sakura had an idea of what happened before she collapsed at least.

"If I could remember then I would not be asking now! Would I, Naruto? The last thing I remember is us beating Kakashi-sensei, then all of us have some ramen, and finally going to sleep. Then I wake up looking like this!" Sakura told him motioning to her puppet body.

'Huh? What's the matter with Sakura's memories? She completely does not recall us being sent to Suna on that mission where I screwed up big time,' Naruto thought.

"Hey, Naruto…Naruto….answer me, damn it! What the hell happened to my body? Who did this to me?" Sakura yelled. She was shaking him and was about to slap him when her arm was caught and held firmly by the green hair boy that with Jiraiya and him.

"You sure are acting grateful after what Sensei did just to make so you could move again," he said sarcastically.

"Who are you?" the pink hair girl asked since she had never since this kid before and did he just refer to Naruto as Sensei?

"I am Ryo, and the fact that you're even able to move like this again is thanks to me, Sensei, and Ero-Sanin over there. Though if what I saw and heard earlier is how you always treat him, then I do not even know why bother to even help you," Ryo snorted.

While Jiraiya slumped his shoulder a little as he even got the kid (at in appearance and age compare the other tailed demons) calling him by that name.

"Hey, Sakura's not that bad of person even if she does hit me a lot," Naruto said in her defense, snapped out of his thoughts by Ryo's words

'There it is again, just Sakura and not Sakura-chan,' she thought, wondering how things could change so much from just one night (from her perspective at least).

"Naruto, what's happening? Is this really your doing?" she asked as she looked down at her chest under the jacket to see that there was a seal carved right where her heart was.

Naruto explained everything that happened between him, Sasori, and while she was just one of his normal human puppet, minus the rubbing her breast in his face and posing naked parts; then just the important fact of the search for Ryo, minus the part of her getting captured by Guren or running in their friends; then about time spend here making the jutsu and seal with Jiraiya and Roy in order to animate her like this.

Sakura just nodded as she listened to what had happened. Though nothing about going to Suna or the guy named Sasori rung any bells yet, she was positive that Naruto would never lie to her but something in his story got her angry again.

"You saw me half naked and carved this seal on me with your finger?!" She yelled as she was about beat the hell out her teammate for looking at her naked body while she was unable to do anything.

"It had to be done. I had to carve the seal on you and I couldn't use any tools because my hands were shaking too much to do it properly," he said. This caused her to stop as that was something she had expected Naruto would have done something that and he did give her his jacket and seem have made a makeshift dress from his clothes plus it was this seal that was allowing to move on her own again.


	26. Late Night Talks

It was much later that night and the sky was pitch black with the only light coming from the stars in the sky and quarter moon's light shining back on the landscape below. On the roof of one of Jiraiya's houses in this area was the new, fully animated Sakura. She was still up looking and watching her hands which black sand then began to seep through her palm forming a sphere.

The pink hair puppet then just watched with a curious look on her face as the black sand moved according to her will, shaping itself into whatever she was thinking at the moment. The various it shape it took were people, objects, and things some of which she had never seen before in her life but guessed that she might have in the whole year that was missing from her memory. Two figures she made got two completely different reactions out of her. One was of elderly old woman that rather short but had feeling that she was very skilled and respected her. The other was of guy probably only a fewer years older then herself which looked seem to her as they were puppet but instead a seal craved on their chest their was scroll with veins sticking out from the where it was. The feeling that she got from this guy was nothing but anger and crushing the figure she made in her hands

'I wonder if I now have some of the memories of the Third Kazekage. This sand originally belonged to him,' Sakura thought as she watched the sand disappear in the same way that it had appeared. She only knew of the Third Kazekage's ability through Naruto telling her about it.

She then started examining her hand again and with no effort at all her hand began to glowing a dull green and she waved her hand back and forth, watching charka follow a few seconds after her hand.

A sigh escaped her lips though she wondered just how was it was that she was still able to even talk. Sure she knew that this wooden body of hers was being animated thanks her charka residing within it and Naruto's making her own move around like normal persons, but how that allowed her to talk was still a mystery to her.

"I will have to ask Naruto about that tomorrow, amongst other things," Sakura said, voicing her thoughts out loud.

"Ask me about what, Sakura?" Naruto asked as he appeared right in front of her face.

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled as her tail, which was lying lifelessly behind her, suddenly came to life and drove itself in Naruto's left shoulder without warning.

"Naruto! I am so sorry! I did not mean to do that! It was an accident! I still haven't gotten use to have a tail so I guess it was just a reaction. Here, let me heal it for you," Sakura said as she removed her tail and placed her hands over the wound as they began to glow a dull green once again.

Naruto then lightly took her hand off his shoulders and shook his head to telling her that she did not need to do that.

Sakura then watched as the wound began to heal itself until all that was left was nothing more then the hole in his clothes that her tail had caused by jamming itself in his shoulder.

"But how? I stabbed you pretty deep with my tail and why didn't my medical jutsu work on you?" Sakura asked. She learned medical ninjutsu heal Naruto when he got injured and not just stand there watching as others did it like when she was twelve.

"I heal even faster then before and I guess that you can only heal yourself now. I felt nothing when you tried to apply your charka to heal me," Naruto told her.

"Great, not only did that bastard violate my body by doing this to me, but he made so I can not even be a medical nin to any but myself anymore and its not even healing anymore as more like repairing!" Sakura growled and she punched that roof, causing hole the size of her hand to appear when she pulled her hand out.

"Ouch! What the hell was that? The roof just fell on me!" Ryo yelled. He had happened to be unlucky enough to be sitting in the place directly under the hole. "Hey! What the hell are you doing up there punching holes in the roof?" he yelled up to her.

"Sorry, I…" Sakura began before Naruto stopped her.

"Sakura's just angry over what happened to her. That's all. She has a right to be," Naruto explained.

"Naruto, what are you two still doing up anyway?" Sakura asked since it was pretty late at night and he had fainted from giving her too much charka early today.

"I am not completely human anymore and Ryo was never human to begin with, so we do not need to sleep as much as I used to," he told her.

"You look a lot different compared to the last time I saw you, but that doesn't mean that you no longer human. I am the one that's no longer human! I am just an animated puppet!" Sakura yelled. How could Naruto think he was no longer human just because of a few changes in his appearances?

"Sakura, did you forget what I told you earlier tonight?" Naruto asked

Sakura thought about it for awhile and then nodded as she could recall her own abilities and how to control the Iron Sand somehow but memories of Naruto telling her what had happened to her last memory was a blur.

"So how long has it been since you've known?" Sakura asked, curious as to just how much time had past between now and the last thing she remembered.

Sighing, Naruto began to explain everything to her once again, hoping that the memory loss Sakura was suffering was not a recurring condition.

"Gaara died? But how? He is Gaara," she asked. She held Gaara in the same regards as Naruto and Sasuke in the fact that they were some of the strongest people she knew and found it hard to believe that Gaara had died.

"Gaara is not immortal, nor is he undefeatable. The group called the Akatsuki managed to beat him and sucked the demon out of him, costing him his life, but thanks to Chiyo and me, we brought him back from the dead at the cost of Chiyo's own life," he explained.

"You're not going to trade your life for mine or take someone else's just to give me mine back, are you?" the pink hair puppet asked as he told her about the original purpose of Chiyo's technique and how she wanted to use on Sasori to restore his human form.

"If it comes to that, Sakura, I will give my life and only my life to return you to normal as it's my fault that you're like this."

'He is not serious, is he?' Sakura thought 'Naruto would not give his life just so I could have a chance to be normal again'. The thought of Naruto dead was something that she just could not…no, she did not want to imagine at all.

"No, you're going to do no such thing! Either you find a way to restore me to normal without giving your life or not all," she told him.

"Okay then, but I can not make any promises," he agreed.

"So how did you get me away for Sasori then if you were by yourself? \Did you beat him on your own?" Sakura asked.

"I could not beat Sasori on my own while he was controlling you like one of his normal human puppet. He made you beat the crap out of me," Naruto told her.

Sakura just stared in shock as she then looked down at her hands.

"I…I…I…" Sakura tried to speak but could not find the words to say. What do you say to someone that you beat to a pulp even though we were not in control of yourself at the moment?

"He was about to have you carry me back when he decide to add insult to injury," Naruto told her.

"What did that bastard make me do?" Sakura asked as she hoped whatever happened to the missing sand nin was painful

"I'd rather not talk about it, but as a result, I released Kyuubi and then he merged with me," her teammate said. Luckily he didn't have the blush appear on his face over the embarrassing thing Sasori made Sakura do.

Things became quiet between the two of them until Sakura finally spoke again. "Are you really merged with the Kyuubi, and if so, how do I know that you're still Naruto?" she asked. She could not believe that he and the demon fox merged together and he absorbed the fox instead of the other way around.

"I am not completely sure about it myself, yet I am still me. However, I also have all of Kyuubi's memories, knowledge, and powers," he told her.

"So does that mean your going to get revenge on Konoha?" Sakura asked. If Naruto had the nine tail's memories, he might want to destroy their home. She would not blame him as he not only would he have his own reason, but Kyuubi's as well.

"No, I do not want revenge on Konoha because of my merger with Kyuubi, but to find a way to make you human again," he said after shaking his head.

"Thanks," Sakura said. She was glad that she had someone like Naruto in her life. He was always there for her.

"There's another thing I've been wondering about this seal on my chest. Could you tell me a little more about it?" Sakura asked.

"The seal allows you stay animated as you are now as long as we are in a five mile radius of each other and is continuously draining me of five percent of my charka. I made it so that the link is almost undetectable by most demons or humans. I wanted to make the range unlimited, but that would take too much charka and would be easy for others to track," he told her.

"So after we are not in five mile radius of each other, I begin to revert to being just normal unanimated human puppet again, right?" Sakura asked and he just nodded his head.

"Naruto, how I am suppose to going to into villages and town looking like this?" she then asked in reference to her human puppet body.

"Sakura, you're forgetting just who am I now," Naruto said his form shifted from his back his old self before he had merged with Kyuubi.

"Naruto, what did you just do?" she asked.

"It's a type of genjutsu similar to Tsunade, yet different. You'd be surprised, Sakura, just how many jutsu we have that just borderline on the jutsu of what demons use," Naruto told her. "Sakura, hold still." He placed a hand on her shoulder. Sakura watched as she saw her wooden shoulder change back to normal flesh. "Now you're under the same genjutsu as me but this is just an illusion. However, it cannot be detected or canceled by normal person or even most ninjas unless they are at Jiraiya's level and have something to repress demonic chakra," He told her.

"Just how do you..." she said but then stopped realized he probably would have just told her Kyuubi's memories.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000

I would like to thank:

King Hawke and RANMACAT for reviewing Chapter 24-25

QueenThayet12990 for reviewing Chapter 25

Everstrange1 for adding me as one of their favorite authors, and to their author alert list

Ericting's Stories for adding this story to their C2 archive

redbloodgoddess, Everstrange1, and bleeding-fallen-angel for adding this to their Favorite story list

redbloodgoddess and Everstrange1 for adding this to their Story Alert List.


	27. Getting Ready to Move out

Later the next day….

Jiraiya yawned as he walked into the room where Naruto and Ryo were watching TV and noticed that there was hole directly over Naruto's head, letting sunlight in a bunch of debris from what looked like roof titling and other various things that were from the roof.

"Hey, why are you two just sitting there when there is a hole in my roof and did the two of you stay up all night?" he asked, a little angry that they left a hole in his house while watching TV.

"Of course. Demons do not need as much sleep as humans do so we stayed up watching TV," Ryo told him.

"Sakura is also right above us and I've been using this hole to keep an eye on her," Naruto told him as he then jump through the hole he had made wider in order to fit through.

Sakura was still sitting in the same spot he had last seen her in after she left and decided to give her some space and time to herself. Though, the strange thing was that she had this strange dazed look on her face as she stared up at the sky, possibly at the stars which were no longer visible thanks to the sun having risen.

"Sakura?" Naruto asked as he shook her shoulders, wondering if something had gone wrong with her seal. Did he mess up somewhere? No, that couldn't be it. The seal was done perfectly so it could not have been that some there must be something less behind his teammate's dazed expression.

"Huh, Naruto? You are back. Is there something wrong?" Sakura asked confused as she wondered why Naruto was holding her like this and why he had such a worried expression on his face.

"Naruto, there's nothing wrong, is there?" she asked worried as this time it was Sakura that was going though a list of worries that were in her mind at the moment when Naruto did not answer her. 'Is Kyuubi gaining control? That cannot or should not be possibly since Naruto assimilated the Kyuubi, but maybe his personality traits are starting to show through Naruto,' she thought.

Naruto then took Sakura into a hug and was slightly shocked when she did not push him away but eventually hugged him back.

"No, I am fine, Sakura, but what about you? You had this dazed expression on your face. I was worried that maybe the seal had been done wrong or that something worse happened like it had failed," Naruto told her after breaking the hug.

"I guess I was just lost in thought. I began thinking about a lot things as I sat here looking up at the stars though I guess my mind began to wander. I think you know the rest. Sorry about zoning out like that though," she said. She really was trying to be of use to Naruto and the others by keeping watch on the roof for anyone that might attack them but failed.

'This is just great. I can not heal Naruto if he gets injured, could have lost himself to Kyuubi in attempt to get revenge on Sasori for what he done to me, and when I try to stand guard for him, I let my mind wander,' Sakura thought as she beat herself up over the things she had failed to do in order to live up to her promise of helping Naruto rather then being a burden.

"Hey, Sakura, do not worry about it. You were up for a long time so your mind was going to naturally wander off. Besides, me and Ryo would have noticed if anything was wrong with the surroundings," he told her.

"Ummm…Naruto, can you do something about my tail? While I look normal again, I still have this tail to worry about," Sakura asked as she showed that her tail was still visible but it looked organic instead of wooden just like the rest of her.

"I guess you will just have to keep wrapped around your waist kind of like a belt or something. That worked so far, so why should you it stop now?" Naruto suggested and Sakura just nodded.

"Hey, Naruto! Are you just going to stay up there all day talking to Sakura or are you going to fix this hole in my roof?" Jiraiya yelled up at him.

"I am going to get to, Ero-Sanin. It's not like this is your only house!" Naruto yelled back.

"……." was the response that Jiraiya gave back to him.

"Really, I did travel with you for nearly three years. Did you think I wouldn't figure out that you were well off you are the author of Icha Icha after all and that those books sell like crazy to people like Kakashi and closest perverts like Ebisu and Kabuto," the red tint blond told him with a smirk on his face.

"Wait, Kabuto is closet pervert?" Sakura asked, shocked at this information as she might have been there when Naruto found out himself but was fully aware of her surroundings at the time.

"Yup," Naruto told her, filling her in on what happened since he knew she did not have any clear memories since after they managed to beat Kakashi-sensei in the bell test.

"Why don't you go down and see if you can not get anything to wear beyond what you currently have on," Naruto told as this was one of sensei's house so he was guessing he had clothing for opposite sex lying around seeing as how much he liked to waste other people (mostly his) money on them.

"Actually, Naruto, I kind of like your jacket and feel very possessive of it. I was wondering if I could keep it," she asked.

"Sure, it's yours," he told his pink haired teammate since she already claimed as her own anyway.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

While Naruto was fixing the roof, Jiraiya arrived and stood there watching him and informing him on the various things that were going on back in Konoha.

"So how long do you plan to stay away from Konoha? Unlike me or Tsunade, you cannot stay away from the village too long as there is a limit to what Tsunade and I can do, you know," he asked.

"I am not going back until Sakura is normal again, Ero-Sanin," Naruto told him as he finished the interior roof repair and was now working on the exterior part. Turns out all of those roofs repairing D-rank mission he took were coming in handy now.

"What about Sasuke?" Jiraiya asked.

"What about him?" Naruto asked back.

"Are you going after him? The transfer jutsu Orochimaru wants to use on him was delayed because the soul of his current body was weak but he's rapidly approaching the limit he can stay in that body. Soon he'll try to take Sasuke's body," the Frog Sanin informed him.

"If he wants to have someone three times his age take over his body, then that's his problem, not mine anymore. I have bigger things to worry about then the stupid Uchiha," his student told him.

"It seems that you decided to stop being a fool and grow up then," the white hair man said.

"Nope, I am still a fool. It's just I changed my focus to someone more important. Sakura means way more to me then Sasuke ever will," Naruto told him. Also there was some bad blood between Kyuubi and the Uchiha Clan which he did not understand fully but it also effected how he viewed Sasuke.

Just then from the ground, Sakura appeared and stared up at the roof towards Jiraiya.

"There you are, Perverted Sanin," she yelled as she was still wearing the same thing she had been the last time Naruto saw her.

"I have to go! See you later, Naruto!" Jiraiya said before vanishing in the way high level ninja like him could.

"Get back here!" Sakura yelled as she jumped on the roof and sighed in defeat after realizing he was gone.

"What's the matter, Naruto?" Sakura asked as she instantly switched from anger to worry over Naruto backing away from her.

"Just what happened to trying to find some clothes?" he asked, wondering what made her so angry.

"The stupid pervert did not have any normal clothes and only ones he did have was for people with who could give Hinata a run for her money," Sakura growled. Using her tail, she showed a Naruto a skimpy sleeveless dress that seemed made to show off extra cleavage.

"Well, we'll just have to go to town and get you some," he told her, glad that the mental connection between him and her seemed cut because he was currently picturing Sakura wearing a form fitting version of that dress in his mind.

"Okay," she said smiling before asking if he wanted any help.

Naruto was wondering if there was something wrong with her because she was having some strange mood swings.

Once the repairs were done and they were about to leave for a town to get Sakura some new clothes, something that had been Sakura's mind came up and was brought to Naruto's attention.

"Hey, Naruto, why don't you call me Sakura-chan like you used to before ummm…this happened to me?" Sakura asked since they traveled referring to her being transformed into a human puppet.

"I feel that I should not call you that until I have redeemed myself for leaving you behind in the first place. If I listen to Kakashi then maybe you still be human today instead of human puppet animated by my charka," he told her.

"Okay," Sakura responded but mental added that she would repay Naruto by help him in any way possible.


	28. Taking Care of Potential Problem

Getting strange looks from strangers outside of Konoha was not something that was new to Sakura. She did have pink hair after all, and if there was anything that could get someone else to stare at you, it would be have some extraordinary hair color like pink or blond. Other then Ino and Naruto, Sakura could probably count on her hands the names of blondes she'd seen in her life. Yet, this was different. These looks, she was sure that she was getting, was nothing like that at all. In fact, these looks seemed similar to the ones that a good portion of villagers back in Konoha gave Naruto when they were all kids. Though, what was the reason? She never came here to this country northeast of Land of Fire before.

"Naruto, is it just me or were people staring at me funny back on the boat and here, for that matter?" Sakura asked as they were traveling through the nation that north of Land of Fire and if one were to heading further north, one would arrive at the Land of Lighting.

"It's just you," Naruto said nervously. He did not want to tell her that those people probably knew her from the time Sasori made her fight in Shinobi Fight Clubs where she became known as Demon Fist Sakura. It was a good thing the first two rules of Shinobi Fight Club were that you do not talk about Shinobi Fight Club.

Though what Naruto did not get was why people here ever knew about it that since the Land of Fang was a pretty good way away from here.

"Okay," the pink hair girl said in response, trusting his answer even though she knew he was lying. But since it was Naruto lying, there must have been a good reason.

'Maybe it has something to do with this Sasori person. Naruto also seemed to get angry when I mentioned it. I know that I think about it I do as well, but I can not place why. I'm get the feeling that it's a good thing though,' she thought.

After having stopped by town before leaving the Land of Water, Sakura was now wearing Naruto's jacket open and underneath was a red shirt with pale yellow short sleeves (similar to outfit she seen wearing in shipped or Part II of the manga when not on mission). She had on baggy shorts almost near to her knees and her tail was wrapped around her waist like a belt and as for her shoes they were knee-high sandals.

"So what next, Naruto? Do you have any leads on how I can become human again or are we going to be doing something else?" Sakura asked as she sat on the bed of the room the three of them were staying in.

'He has not told her what he intends to do next, huh? Well, that's understandable considering what he told me about it,' Ryo thought as he saw how in the dark Sakura was about Naruto's plan.

"Sakura, there was another reason we came to this town beside getting food and supplies," the red tinted blond said since he did not want keep this from her and felt that she deserved to know.

"Well, I do not think that there's anything to help in changing back so the only other reason might be….you're not serious are you? You mean to tell me that Sasuke is in this town?" Sakura asked.

"Come, Naruto, we have to go find him. It's been passed three years according to what you told me," Sakura told him as she grabbed his arm and trying to get him to move but he just stayed root to his spot.

"Sakura, Sasuke is not in this town but is nearby. I do not really give a damn about what Sasuke wants to do with man three times his age anymore because getting you back and then getting you completely back to normal is way more important. However, I am going to stop the snake bastard from taking over Sasuke's body. I cannot just let Orochimaru off the hook with him of all people getting his hands on Sharingan. Ryo is going to watching over you until I get back. I'll see you when I get back," he told her.

"Naruto, I thought I told you we were…." Sakura said before stopping mid sentence collapsing on the bed with her hand outstretched and a blank expression on her face again as Naruto was no longer within five mile radius, thus reverting Sakura into to a normal human puppet unable move or speak on her own. Though she was inanimate once again the genjutsu he used on her was still active making her look like she was just staring off into space.

"That was rather fast, but I guess it's because he left from here so fast. It drained faster then if he was to leave slower pace then he had," Ryo said as knocked on Sakura's head and raise then lower her arm to see if she was really back to be a normal inanimate human puppet.

He then took the puppet girl and made it so that she was lying down in the bed and closed her eyes to make appeared as if she was sleep, which she was in a way.

"Hopefully, you will not beat up sensei too bad," Ryo said to her, hoping that when his sensei returned that Sakura would understand that he did not want her following him because he was worried for her safety. The seal had just been placed on her not too long ago and he did not want her getting into fight at all if he could help it, though that would probably be impossible so he just did not want her to get involved in this fight as her seal still relatively new and he was going up against jutsu specialist and Sharingan user. There was no telling what the two of them would be capable of if they managed to get their hands on her.


	29. The Stone Ninja from Twenty Years Ago

Twenty years ago in Konoha…

"What! Are you seriously going to be going on this mission, knowing how dangerous it is?" a ten year old Kakashi said to his only remaining teammate, not including his sensei.

"Hey, just because I am not a Jonin does not mean I cannot take care of myself! We are not going on anything that dangerous. Though we are at war, so every mission we take is dangerous," his teammate yelled back.

"I have trained since then and I think I've gotten better. Something like that is not going to be happening again and it's not as if I am going alone. There will be others with me," they sighed. Getting Kakashi to trust them was getting harder and harder ever since the events of 'that' mission took place. They always wanted his attention and now that they had it was kind of annoying at time but it was nothing like they dreamed at all.

"I know. It's just that I am worried about you. I am going to protect you in his place though I cannot do that if go mission like this without even telling me. I could have applied to go with you," Kakashi told them.

"No way! You cannot do that! You and sensei are needed on more important missions then just simply meeting up with a spy that's only about mile behind enemy lines," they yelled back.

"Hey, it's time. We have to get going if we want to make to the meeting place in time," their teammate for the mission told them.

"I am coming. Just give me a minute," they reply back. "Look, Kakashi, I cannot promise you that I will be coming back. This is a war we currently in and we are ninjas so there is a possibility I might not be coming back but I am still glad that you worried about me. I'll just use that as motivation for me to come back alive, right?" they said before leaving him behind to join her team for this mission.

00000000000000000000000000000000000

Just behind Land of Earth's border…

'So far, so good,' Kakashi's teammate thought. Their team had arrive in the Land of Earth without a problem, and since it was just the country that the attacking Iwa ninjas were coming from, they shouldn't have had to worry that much about being attacked but letting one's guard down because of this would be stupid idea.

"Huh? This is the meeting place, but I do not see them anywhere! Just pile of rumble," a leaf Chunin said once they made to the meeting point.

"This is not a pile of normal rumble. Look again. There is a leaf Hiate mixed in with it and I clearly see what appear to be body parts," the team leader said.

"Hey, Medic, come over here and look at this," the team leader asked, only for them all to turn and see that their Medic was now a statue with shocked look on their faces, not from being attack by whatever petrifaction jutsu was used on her, but from seeing the pile of rumble just like them seconds ago.

"Sorry, but there's no medic in the world that can repair that guy. He was no longer human the moment I smashed him. Though, this one might be avoiding such fate as long they stay in one piece," the Iwa ninja said before throwing the petrified medic at their team, pinning one them underneath her stone form.

"Looks like you're useful after all, just not in the way you might have thought," the enemy ninja laughed. He then went about to petrifying the rest of the team and smashing them to bits. They were about to do the same to the medic when they noticed scratches they were given before petrifying and crushing the team leader. The scratches were beginning to cause that area of their body to go numb. Forgetting about the medic, they rushed off to get help, though they never made it. They collapsed dead from the deadly poison injected into them and the fact that rushing to get help only sped up the process, thus killing them ever faster.

The medic was saved by being the only one on their team not to get crushed into pieces; however, they weren't out the woods just yet. There was no one around that undo the jutsu which did not become undone with the Iwa ninjas' deaths, thus she remain in that spot on the ground, standing there and staring vacantly at nothing

00000000000000000000000000000000000

Twenty years later…

It had been five days since Naruto had left to go stop Orochimaru from obtaining his goal or simply killing him if he had already.

For most of that time, Sakura remained in bed and Ryo just told everyone that she was not feeling good and needed a lot of sleep because she had come down with the flu. He surely could not tell them the truth that she was unable to move become Naruto was not in five mile radius to supply with his chakra. He would on occasion take control of Sakura and make her move around, mostly when room service came by to change the sheets and various other times. As for how he was making her move, that was through the use of demonic Kugustu Naruto had before she became fully conscious again. Though unlike before, she was semi-conscious, thus Ryo had to control her every moment, which would been hard even if he was a Kugustu master. Though, it was rather hard explaining why she never changed her clothes from day to day because there was no way he could do without seeing her naked. Although she was nothing more then an inanimate puppet at the moment, Ryo still respected her privacy that and he was worried about what his sensei, let alone Sakura, herself, would do to him if they had found out about seeing her even partial naked again. The first time he had an excuse since it was during a test on her ability to repair herself.

It was on this fifth day since Naruto had left that Ryo was walking around town with Sakura following closely behind. He needed some fresh air but claimed it was Sakura. It was during this walk that he had happened to overhear two guys talking.

"You know the marble leaf nin is going to be up for grabs soon. The rumor goes that it is really a girl that had been transformed into a statue twenty years ago during the Third Great Shinobi War," the first said.

"Yeah, that rumor is interesting, but it's probably catching a good price from someone. Those earth nins that came to town after hearing it would be sold here. If I did not know any better, I say they actually believed that it really a petrified girl rather then just a hunk of finely craved marble" the second said.

"Tell me about it! If that statue was really a Konoha Ninja turned to stone, then why did Hidden Earth Village lose to Konoha with jutsu like that? Even the Yellow Flash and Copycat Ninja would be given a run for their money," the first said

'Wow! This is certainly a shock,' Ryo thought to himself. He would have never thought that a human would have been able to pull off a petrifaction jutsu. 'From the way they talked about her, she might still be in one piece. There were those that obviously wanted her as trophy. Rich humans always like that, but she might not stay in one piece that way if one of the Earth Nin managed to get their hands on her.'

'Alright then, it's settled. I am just going to have to make sure that I restore this girl to normal after rescuing her from be sold off to the highest bidder, only to face the possibility of being destroyed,' Ryo thought. He could not just leave the girl to her fate of a continued existence as trophy or end up a pile of rumble.

00000000000000000000000000000000

Later that night after 'convincing' the two he had overheard talking about the petrified girl, Ryo was standing on roof of the building where she was being held. To conceal Sakura and his identify, he covered their faces with masks and all black clothing that they wore over their clothes they already had on. While he wanted to save the petrified girl, he didn't want to cause more problems for Naruto, Sakura, and himself if at all possible.

'All right. This is the spot,' Ryo thought and he could detect the very faint charka signature of the petrifaction jutsu coming from the girl. He then had Sakura use her tail covered in iron sand and enhanced by her charka as a drill to make their way into the room.

"Things just keep on getting more interesting. When they said you were a girl, I actually expected a teenager like Sakura here, but you're around my age! Well, the age of my human appearance, at least," Ryo said quietly because he did not want to alert any more guards at the moment.

The statue girl in question had short hair that just barely made it to their shoulders and on the both sides of her face were these two skinny rectangles. She was dressed in what looked like a long sleeve shirt and pants where the right leg stopped around her knee. The symbol on the forehead protector was that of the Konoha. Also, it could be told that they had been cleaned and shined regularly. The marble still looked fresh and there were no sign of dust anywhere on her. The title on her pedestal read: 'The startled leaf girl that did not even see it coming'.

"Now to get you out of here and then possibly restore you, if that's possible at all," Ryo said and stood in front of her, looking at her stone form.

"Hey, you two over there! What are doing with my property?" a man in his late thirties to mid forties said as he saw Sakura taking the girl under one arm and then jumping back up the hole. Before the man could move any closer then he already was, Ryo used a smoke screen to escape through the hole in the roof.

Once back on the roof, he then made Sakura, who was carrying the girl, to follow him as they ran into out of the city and back into the forest. There was no way that he could stay in the town now and would have to send Naruto a message that he took Sakura left because he wanted to save another girl that in similar situation as her, in a way.

Within a rather large hollowed out tree, Ryo collapsed to the ground. Traveling forty miles in ten minutes was tiring enough at his current power level, but making Sakura do the same while carrying a marble statue that possible weighed three hundred pounds was tough. Sakura then collapsed to the ground as Ryo had released his control over her, which was the only thing keep her going at the moment.

"Okay. Now then to take a break to recover from controlling Sakura as long as I did and traveling this far so fast before attempting anything else," Ryo said slowly and he managed to pull himself up and turn so he could see if anyone was coming.

"Hopefully, I'll recover before sensei gets back. I'm going to have to have Sakura repair the damage she has gotten from me making her use her tail as drill and her hands from being forced to travel so fast," he sighed. He looked at his pink haired companion and how the cracks in her tails and hands appeared as scratches thanks to the genjutsu covering her.

0000000000000000000000000000

A few hours later…

Ryo was feeling enough of his charka had been restored that he could undo the petrifaction jutsu that transformed this girl into the statue that was at the moment.

"You are lucky that I heard about you when I did. It seems that I can do use the counter jutsu and return you to normal, but another week and it would have been too late," Ryo said as he could tell from the charka signature of the petrifaction jutsu. The fact that it was very faint meant that it was about to vanished and once that happened then this girl would be a statue forever.

Ryo then placed his hand on her forehead and then focused his charka to flow through the statue girl's body, reverting it from solid marble back to flesh and blood. As this was happening, Ryo turned to where Sakura was sitting against the side of the tree with her head down. While both Naruto and he knew how to do this, this was something that only worked on the Leaf Nin in front of him. It would not work on Sakura because this girl's original body was turned to stone, while in Sakura's case, her original body minus her hair and eyes was discarded and her charka transferred into her current wooden body.

"Huh?" the girl said as she wondered what was going on. The last thing she remembered was seeing a pile of rumble, and from her point of view, could see very clearly that it was no ordinary rumble; they were stone body parts. However, before she could even get over the shock of the sight before her eyes, she felt someone touching her back then everything went black. Turning around now to see who it was, she saw that no one was there at all.

"Whoever used that petrifaction jutsu on you has been long gone," Ryo told her and took a good look at her in her original state. The girl had brown hair and eyes and those rectangles on her face were a greenish color. Her shirt and pants were both black in color.

"Do you think I am stupid? There's no such thing as a petrifaction jutsu that can turn people to stone!" she said.

'Well, not completely to stone, anyway since there were ways to change the body into something else. Yet petrifaction meant that they would become completely made of stone,' the female ninja thought.

"Really? How do explain the fact that your shoes are glued to a pedestal meant for a statue?" Ryo asked.

"I am not…" she said. However, she then looked down to see that her shoes were indeed glued to a pedestal just like Ryo had said.

"You're telling the truth that I really was a statue. Then that feeling I felt was really the jutsu being used on me?" she asked and the green hair boy just nodded his head.

"The startled leaf girl. That's what I was called as statue?" She yelled as she took her feet out of her shoes to get off her pedestal, strangely curious at what she was called while a statue.

"Well then, what your real name? Mine is Ryo and over there is Sakura," he said, introducing the two of them.

"My name is Rin. Could you tell me where we are, how much time has past, and if Konoha won the war against Iwagakure?" the girl named Rin asked.

"Well, we are in large hollowed out tree in a forest inside the country about Northeast of Land of Fire, and since you do not know the outcome of the Leaf/Earth war which ended with the Leaf's victory, I would say about twenty years have past since you've been transformed," Ryo informed her. He had nothing but time on his hands since Naruto left, thus he read up on the events that happened during the time he was out of control.

"Two decades! I've been a statue for almost twenty years!" Rin said, pretty much in shock that it was really twenty years from her last memories.

'Kakashi! What about Kakashi?' Rin thought. He must have been worried about her and probably thought she was dead all this time. She could not possibly even try to come back like she promised him if she was statue of solid stone.

She was about to ask about her teammate when she looked over at Sakura and noticed something was off.

"Ummm…Ryo, was it? I do not know how to say this, but I think your friend seems dead. She does not seem to be breathing," Rin said. While she could not see past Naruto's genjutsu that Sakura was under, but being a highly skilled Medic ninja that was genjutsu type like Sakura, she could slightly see through the genjutsu enough to notice Sakura's chest not moving.

"Sakura is fine…ummm… resting. Why don't you look again?" Ryo told her, though while doing this, he placed Rin under a genjutsu to making her see what he was saying.

'I hope Sakura is fine, but I am going to have to tell Naruto about this,' Ryo thought. While the seal worked with Naruto inside its radius leaving and staying outside of it for prolong periods of time, this was something that had been tested.

"What are you doing?" Ryo asked when he noticed Rin was bowing toward him.

"I have not thanked you yet. It was because of you I am no longer some stone sculpture on display where you found me," Rin said.

"Well, actually, you were about to be sold off probably to some earth nin that would have even kept you a trophy or did something worse, like destroy you," Ryo told her.

"All the more reason I should thank you. I probably owe you my life and you changed me back," Rin replied.

"Rin, can you please guard Sakura? I sense someone coming," Ryo said

"Of course! I may be a medical ninja but that does not mean I cannot defend myself. I am Chunin, after all," Rin told him.

"Hey, wait! I just came to get you as told by Naruto!" the red toad summon Gamakichi said as he used his kunai to block the one Ryo made from charka-harden ice he created from water that in turn created out of thin air.

"Gamakichi, is that really you?" Rin asked. She could not believe that he had changed so much since she had last seen him. He was now human size, wore black gloves and his jacket now had a fur collar

"Rin? You're alive and still the same age as when you went missing! But how? Everyone was sure you had died, especially Jiraya and Kakashi. Man, Kakashi is surely going to get kick of this when he hears that you're still alive!" the toad said, rather shocked at seeing the girl hadn't aged a day in twenty years.

'So Kakashi is still alive? That's good,' Rin thought and was about to ask about him when Ryo interrupted her.

"To make a long story short, it involved the petrifaction jutsu being used on her twenty years ago that was just undone a few minutes ago. Though what's this you said about that Naruto sending you?" Ryo asked.

As for how Ryo even knew Gamakichi, the truth was, he did not actually know him personally, but he knew of him since Naruto told him that he had contract signed the Frog contract and was able to summon frogs because of it.

"Yeah, he's not being allowed to leave because of his injuries so he sent me to get the two, well, three of you now. You sure were a pain to find! Do you know that? Judging from Sakura's condition, I'd say you used her in your rescuing of Rin," the human size toad said.

"You do not think that Naruto-sensei is going to get too mad, do you? Rin could have been destroyed or worse stuck a statue forever if I just left her," he asked.

"More then likely yes, but you did it to save someone and would have left her unguarded if left to do it alone, so I guess that keep him from getting too angry at you," Gamakichi said.

"Come on, Rin. We should get going," he said and had Sakura climb onto his back as he did not want Rin knowing the truth about her really being a puppet or him being a demon for that matter.

"Sure," she responded and started to follow him, but her legs then gave out from under her.

Placing Sakura down, he then picked up Rin and placed her on the summon frog's back.

"This could be a side effect of reverting you back to normal. It could take some time before your charka network is back to normal since that's how you were transformed in the first place. Though, since it did happen once you returned to normal, I just thought it wasn't going to happening. It seems that I was wrong in that guess," Ryo explained to her.

Rin in response simply nodded and she held on to the frog all the time, wondering why Sakura hadn't moved a muscle other her chest which was actually just Ryo's genjutsu since getting on his back or why she even need to be carried in the first place.

"Alright, take us to where sensei is then, Gamakichi," Ryo said and the frog then went off in the direction towards Naruto's current location.

0000000000000000000000000000000

I would like to thank:

Froggy-slice and Chaos master mage for reviewing my story

oblivionprince, deathica666, Froggy-slice, Chaos master mage, and ted009 for adding this to their Favorite story list


	30. The Land of Vegetables

As Ryo followed Gamakichi to sensei's location with Sakura on his back, he noticed something out the corner of his eyes.

It was Sakura's left hand. It began to move and her fingers started to stretch themselves out, almost causing her to slip from Ryo's back. He had them clamped together around his neck. This could only mean that they were really getting closer where Naruto currently was. Otherwise, Sakura wouldn't be coming to life again like this. This could only happen within the five mile radius of Naruto's current location.

"….do it toget…Huh???" Sakura said, finishing the thought she could not a week prior, only to find that she was not in that hotel room anymore but on Ryo's back.

Gamakichi, hearing Sakura speak, stops and heads back to where Ryo was letting the pink hair Chunin got on him.

"Where are we, Ryo? What are you doing here, wherever here is exactly, Gamakichi?" Sakura confused.

"Hey, Sakura, it's been awhile. As for what I am for what I am doing here, it's…." Gamakichi said before Rin covered his mouth after seeing Ryo motion her to do so from behind Sakura.

"My head feels funny. I am think there's something I am forgetting," Sakura said to herself out loud, rubbing her nose with her fingers only to see the injuries to them (she refused to think of it as damage as she was not a thing but a person).

"What happened to my hands, and for that matter, where is Naruto?" Sakura asked. She could not see him anywhere around here

"Come on, Sakura. I'll explain on the way to where we are going," Ryo explained, hoping she would not get too mad.

Nodding after healing her hands, she followed after him and came up to Rin who was traveling on Gamakichi's back.

"Hello there. My name is Sakura. Who are you? I am sure I haven't seen your face before," Sakura asked as she ran next to Gamakichi.

"Huh? But we…" Rin began to say but the red toad shook his head no.

Sakura's titled her head to the left a little as she wondered why Naruto's first frog summon shook his head.

"My name is Rin and I owe Ryo and you my life," she said but she wondered why she did not remember meeting before back at the hollowed out tree.

"I see. Well, I also owe my life to someone," Sakura said. She still did not seem to remember what happened between Naruto and her a week ago nor was she wasn't questioning why they were out here.

"I am…am…going to beat the living hell out of that guy!" she yelled as she remembered what happened before she reverted to inanimate puppet.

"However, before that, you are going to tell me what's been going on since he left," Sakura said, going through the motion of cracking her knuckles.

"Umm…Gamakichi, Naruto is in that direction, right?" Ryo asked and the toad just nodded his head.

"Well, Rin, I'll see you when you get there," he told her as he dodged some iron sand that would capture his ankle.

"Get back here, you stupid turtle, and tell me what has been going on!" Sakura yelled as she began chasing after him.

"Let's go. Hopefully, she will not do anything like that once she sees Naruto," the frog summon sighed. Rin was just confused at what had just happened.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000

"Well, here we are, the Land of Vegetables" Gamakichi said as he walked along a pathway leading to the border of the country.

"I heard of this place back in the academy but have never actually been here myself. Though I thought there be more vegetable fields around here," Rin said as her mental picture of this country was dashed by the reality.

"You really should not judge a country but its name. That would mean the Land of Fire should be full of fires but it's not," Gamakichi pointed out.

"I was only four at the time and did not know that, okay?" Rin said, defending herself. She had been there for more a war torn time when the age of academy students was then four instead of six.

Gamakichi just sighed as he made his way to their destination, though after awhile, something that had been bothering Rin got to the point that she could not keep it in anymore and had to ask the frog summon.

"How come nobody is paying us any attention? You'd think a girl travelling on the back of giant frog would grab people's attention," Rin asked Naruto's first summon (with his own charka not kyubi's).

"Well I've been around here a few times before. Both Jiraiya and Naruto are good friends with the daimyo of this country," he told her.

Thirty minutes later….

The two had finally caught up with Sakura and Ryo where the latter was currently arguing with the guards while Ryo was on the ground behind her, black and blue. It appeared that he had been dragged here.

"What do you mean I cannot come in? I am Naruto's friend and teammate. If he is in there, then I should be able to go in too!" Sakura yelled.

"Miss, we can not just let anyone claiming to be the friend of Naruto-sama into the daimyo's castle," said the guard.

"Most certainly not one carrying a kid they that appears that he been beaten pretty badly, surely you understand this", a second guard said.

Sadly, Sakura did not. Her mind was not all there at the moment, being angry. Now a sense of anxiety clouded her judgment and common sense. The anxiety came from the fight Naruto had surely gotten into since he was go to fight a Sanin, a Jonin level ninja (since Kabuto was said to be a strong as Kakashi), and possibly even Sasuke all on his own.

"No, you do not understand. Naruto is in there, I know it, and you two are going to tell me see him!" Sakura yelled as the little bit of common sense and rational judgment she had left, which is what was preventing her from simply going over the wall and finding Naruto herself.

"Gamakichi, you tell these guy who I am," she said as the green eyed teenager noticed him coming towards the gates.

"She really is Sakura Haruno and this how she gets when she angry and worried about Naruto," Gamakichi told them.

"Okay then, you two can pass, but what about the kids with you?" the first guard asked.

"They with us and they're okay. Each one them is connected to Naruto in some way," he told the guards.

"Are you okay, Ryo?" Rin asked from her place on Gamakichi.

"Sure, I am fine," the green hair boy informed her, though to her, he looked anything but fine. If it was not for her charka system being so screwed up that she could not walk, she would have attempted to heal him.

The five of them (Sakura, Ryo, Rin, Gamakichi, and one of the guard) then entered the castle, and when they made it close to the stairs, they could see two more people having a small argument.

"Lady Haruna, please! You do not have to take this to him yourself. I could do that," a maid said.

"No, I will take Naruto the ramen I made for especially for him to him myself," Haruna said.

"Ahhh…Your Highness, the group that Naruto-sama has sent Gamakichi out to find have arrived," the guard that brought them this far said.

Asking her maid to hold her ramen, Haruna when over to Sakura and looked at her. Being around the same age (maybe two-three year different tops), the two of them stood at about the same height so they facing each other eye to eye.

"Let me guess, you must be Sakura. I am Haruna, the daimyo of the Land of Vegetables," Haruna said, holding out her hand which Sakura shook but other thoughts were going though her mind at the moment.

Sakura though was just in shock over what was going on here and really wanted to bring a hand up to her heart or actually to where her heart once resided, regardless of it not psychically being there anymore. The feeling of her heart being pinched at way she simply said Naruto's name and want to give him ramen was clear.

'Naruto never told me he knew a female daimyo that was our age. Why did not he tell me about this? It's not like he is not friends with other daimyos (that were older then him of course), so why didn't he tell me about this one?' Sakura thought. He told her everything, even when she did not want him to after almost every mission he took before finally leaving on his training trip with Jiraiya, which according to her sensei, was just a way of keeping him busy. She was told that if Naruto wasn't kept busy, he would try to go after Sasuke on his own like she had tried once, but ended up going with Naruto and Jiraiya instead.

"Yes, that's right. I am Sakura…Sakura Haruno, his teammate and his friend," Sakura told her.

'So this is the one that Naruto made that promise to,' the brown haired daimyo thought. She had always wondered who this Sakura person he told her about before leaving looked like and what kind of person she was.

"So where is Naruto? Why, may I ask, is the ruler of the country going to serve him ramen personally?" Sakura asked, not really liking this feeling she was continuously getting from Haruna. It evaporated all her anger over being left out on helping keep Sasuke from having his body taken by Orochimaru.

"Naruto saved my life and helped me to become the person I am today. I was doing what I can to repay the favor," Haruna responded.

"Is that so? Well, where is Naruto? He has some explaining to do," Sakura said.

"Right this way. I was just going there myself before you four appeared," Haruna said and Sakura followed after her.

Gamakichi, Ryo, and Rin just followed after them, noticing the looks Sakura was giving Haruna while Sakura was wondering why Naruto went without her, despite telling him that they were going to get save Sasuke together and why he never told her about his mission the Land of Vegetables. He had told her about all the others he went on, so why did he leave out this one?

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Upon entering the room and seeing the condition that Naruto was in, all Sakura could do was stand there staring at him.

"Sakura…Hey, Sakura, say something," Naruto asked worriedly.

"Naruto, what happened to you? Why are you covered in bandages? Did Sasuke do this to you?" she asked. She did not understand how Naruto could be hurt this badly. Sure even though he was merged with Kyuubi, that did not make him invincible. But still, according to Ryo (who had been healed by Rin and his own fast healing ability), it had been a week since then so most of his injuries he got should have been healed by now unless he had something that would have been fatal for a normal person.

"Sensei, is this why you never came back after leaving?" Ryo asked.

"Well, actually, I spent about a day or two just trying to find where the snake bastard and Sasuke were exactly, which was hard even with my current abilities," he said.

"So what happened? Did Sasuke or Orochimaru give you these injuries?" Sakura demanded since she wanted to know who did this to her teammate.

"Orochimaru actually got a taste of his own medicine. He was the one that was absorbed into Sasuke, not the other way around," he told them.

"Then how did you get like this? Was it this Sasuke person?" Rin asked, making her presence know. She was also curious as to why he looked so much like her sensei and what happened to him and Kakashi, but that would have to wait. Just knowing Kakashi was alive was enough right now. Ryo and Sakura should hear how their friend and teacher gotten in this condition in the first place.

"That's a long story and it's going to take awhile to explain fully," Naruto said. Everyone, even Haruna, gave him their full attention. Gamakichi was the only one that already knew what happened, but he was still around because Rin had not recovered enough to walk on her own again.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000

I would like to thank:

King Hawke, RANMACAT, QueenThayet12990, DinoboyKingofallDinosaurs and Demon95 for reviewing my story

Flair the demon dragon king, xoSophox, foxg2rl7, and Demon95 for adding this story to their Story Alert List

Red Spirit Dragon, Irememberurface, DinoboyKingofallDinosaurs, oroage26, and Demon95 for adding this story to their Favorite Story List

Foxg2rl7 and Demon95 for adding me to their Favorite Author list

Ericting and Demon95 for adding me to their Author Alert list


	31. Flashback: Naruto vs Sasuke

Naruto took a deep breath and then sighed before looking over at Haruna who looked at little depressed that Sakura was sitting next to him, despite the fact that she still pretty close (Sakura being a the head of the bed and Haruna being more closer to the middle).

"What is it, Naruto?" Haruna asked, noticing that he was looking at her and not starting his explanation of what happened between him and Sasuke. Something else seemed to be on his mind.

"Before I start, Haruna, there's something that I need to tell you" Naruto said.

"Naruto, can't it wait until you tell us about what happened to you?" she asked. She was curious to what he wanted to tell her but was more interested in how he had gotten hurt so badly.

"This has to do with what happen to me as everyone here minus you and that girl over there knows about. Though, just who are you anyway?" Naruto asked the girl on Gamakichi's back. He remembered hearing about someone like her when he asked Gamakichi if he knew anything about Kakashi-sensei's teammates.

"I am Rin, but my story can be dealt with later. Everyone else here is more interested in what you have to say in regards to how you ended up like this," she replied.

'Rin…she is Rin, but she looks like she is still twelve when she should be nearing her thirties. Oh well, maybe she knows a jutsu like baa-chan or something,' he thought.

"So, Naruto, what is that you wish to tell us about and how does it connect with the condition you're in now?" Haruna asked.

"It started sixteen years ago when the nine tailed demon fox known as Kyuubi attacked Konoha and was, according to the record books, killed by the Fourth Hokage at the cost of his life," he said.

Rin was pretty much shock at this news. While he may not have been the Hokage until some time after she had been turned to stone, she knew that he was being nominated for the position, thanks to overhearing Jiraiya talking with him about it a few days before leaving to go on that fateful mission twenty years ago.

'I am the only one left now,' Rin thought. Both her sensei and Obito were dead while Kakashi's status was unclear. She was beginning to wonder whether or not he was still alive. She was not sure about what her sensei and teammates thought, but to her, they were kind of like her family. She was made a war orphan shortly after entering the academy. It was because she had lost her family that she had decide to become a medic nin in order to help other from losing their families to the war like she had. Though once she was grouped with Kakashi, Obito, and her sensei; they became close to her. Sure Kakashi seemed to be a by the rules person, but she knew deep down he was not really like that and he proved it when he helped Obito rescue her even if it took him awhile. Now she was unsure whether he was still alive or not.

Naruto, seeing the look on her face, said "Kakashi-sensei is still alive, and just so happens that he was the first sensei that Sakura and I had as matter of fact, but more on that subject later, okay?"

Rin sighed a breath of relief. While she had lost two of her teammates, the third was still alive.

'I really have to asked how he's been,' the girl thought. She wonder just how much he had changed since the last time they met, but again, it would have to wait until after Naruto continued with what his explanation.

"However, the Fourth could not beat the Kyuubi. He managed seal the fox into a newborn baby that just happened to be me. For the next fifteen years, the fox remained sealed within me until about two months ago," Naruto told them. "It was at that time that I released the fox from his seal in order to gain enough power to kill a certain bastard for what they did to Sakura, and instead of losing myself to the demon fox, somehow I ended up assimilating him into myself rather then the other way around," he informed them.

Sakura knew this already but to hear it again coming from Naruto's mouth made her realize all over again just how much she must mean to Naruto.

Haruna however did not think any less of Naruto or fear him but was actually rather jealous of Sakura at the moment. She realized just how much Sakura meant to Naruto.

Rin was so stunned at everything she had been told that she almost slid off Gamakichi's back when she stopped holding on. Ryo though stopped this from happening by catching her before this could happen.

Three minutes later…

"Alright, now that it has been said tell us about what happened to get you in this condition," Haruna asked after getting over the jealous feeling she had towards Sakura.

"Sakura…hey, Sakura," Naruto said. He noticed she had that dazed look on her face again.

"Huh…oh, Naruto, sorry about that. I guess got lost in thought again. Have you started explaining what happened between you and Sasuke yet?" she asked. 'It's still hard to believe that Naruto risked having his body destroyed or taken over by Kyuubi just to save me from that sick bastard Sasori,' she thought. It was still a shocker when she actually thought about it.

"No, I was just about to," Naruto said, wondering why she had not called him Sasuke-kun. Even after he had gotten back from his two and half year training trip, she had continued to call him Sasuke-kun. Sure the feeling behind his name were no where near what they were back when she was thirteen, yet now this was the third time she had dropped the '-kun' from Sasuke's name.

"Naruto," both Sakura and Haruna said at the same time, causing him to come back to his senses. They give each a strange look briefly before focusing their attention on the blond boy on the bed.

"Sorry about that. Now I'll get started on what went down when I went to stop the Snake bastard from taking over Sasuke's body," he said as he began to tell them what happened.

**********************************

Flashback to about five days ago

'Finally after two days of searching, I managed to get to this place,' Naruto thought. He had been looking around all this time to find the hideout where Sasuke and the snake bastard were staying at currently. Through his travels in his search for Sakura, he also learned that Sasuke and Snake Sanin moved around from the base to base and never stayed at one place for too long.

Sneaking around the base, he noticed that there really were not that many guards here, which meant that Orochimaru either didn't care if this place was found or that he was just that confident in the fact he would not be found before having a chance to escape.

"It's been awhile since the last time you met Naruto-kun, and not only have you managed to finally get growth spurt, but somehow managed to kill Sasori and learned that what happened to Sakura. So how is playing house with her?" Kabuto said with a smirk on his face.

"She is still alive and I will return her to normal after stopping Orochimaru from stealing Sasuke's body," Naruto told him.

"Pretty big words. Just how do you expect to do either one of those things? I am afraid that I cannot let you pass since the process has already started. Returning that girl to normal is impossible," the sound medic said.

"Then I just have to go through you," Naruto said as he got ready to plow though silver hair nin.

"Getting a little full of yourself, eh, Naruto-kun? You barely beat me last thing and even then I almost killed you. Your Rasengan will not work. I am not giving you time to do it," Kabuto said.

"Is that so? Let's see you try," Kabuto heard a voice say from behind him.

Before the gray haired sound nin could even turn around, Naruto slammed a one handed Odama Rasengan into Kabuto's back. The force of the attack not only sent him flying into the wall, but through the wall and into the room that was in front of him.

"You're not getting up from that attack anytime soon," Naruto said as he entered the room through the doorway made by Kabuto's body, only to stop cold at the sight that was before his very eyes.

There in the center of the room was Sasuke standing while the rest of the room was covered in blood and from the looks of it there were remain of what appeared to be a giant white snake, whose face resembled someone he knew but couldn't place right away until the scent of the blood registered in his mind.

"Sasuke, did you kill Orochimaru by yourself?" Naruto asked.

"So what if I did and why are you even here?" he said as he turned to look at him.

Sasuke, like his brother, for some reason looked like he had been incapable of sleeping properly or something with that tired look that he seemed to have on his face. From what he could tell, they were now both around the same height and were wearing clothes similar to what the Sound Five had worn, only white with his clan symbol on the back collar.

Naruto then jumped back as he left something hit him in the shoulder and looked over to see Sasuke had a Chidori that extended from his hand to the spot where he was standing until he jumped back.

"Since you managed to kill Sasori by yourself, somehow killing you should be a good test of my strength since he was almost as strong my brother is," Sasuke said as he re-drew his chokuto sword and began attacking Naruto.

000000000000000000000000000000000

Twenty minutes later….

Naruto knew that Sasuke would have improved under the Snake Sanin's teaching just like Sakura and himself, but this was beyond what he would have expected. He had not only made the Chidori into a mid-range jutsu, but he had managed to created three other different uses for the Chidori in combat compared to how he used it three years ago.

"He's serious about trying to kill me, just like three years ago," Naruto said. His shirt was in ruins from the multiple stab wounds and burns marks that now littered his body. He was taking shelter to let some of the injuries he had gotten from fighting Sasuke heal up.

'I'm going to have to take this thing a little more seriously,' he thought. He was holding back from using most of his charka because he did not want to kill Sasuke because he still had his promise to Sakura, after all.

Naruto then ducked just in time to prevent himself from being sliced into two by Sasuke's sword slicing through the wall he was sitting behind.

Sasuke had a confused look on his face because he noticed the stab wound he had put through Naruto's shoulders and stomach had fully healed almost as if they were never there to begin with. The only proof that they even existed was the fact that blood and hole on his shirt. The same thing happened when they fought at the Valley of the End. He put a Chidori through one of his lungs and smashed his head into the ground from over twenty feet in the air. These things would have killed anyone less, but Naruto not only survived, but got stronger each time.

Sasuke then locked eyes with Naruto with his Sharingan activated. He was going to found out the reason for this.

000000000000000000000000000000000

Inside Naruto's mindscape…

"So this is what made you special have or had Kyuubi inside you all this time," Sasuke said as he appeared within Naruto subconscious somehow.

"Just how did you even get in here?" Naruto asked shocked as he stood there in his full demon form.

"That none of your business, but it seems that having the Kyuubi sealed within was the reason you did not die those two times I was sure I had killed you," Sasuke said. "It also seems that you released the demon and apparently merging with it led to your current appearance, but let's see just how strong you are without your demonic power," Naruto's former teammate said as he grabbed Naruto's fur, and in flash, his appearance reverted back his original human self.

000000000000000000000000000000000

Back in the real world, Naruto noticed that his appearance had changed here too, and when he tried to use charka, he found that he was unable to do so.

Without his charka, the fight was a lot harder. He was stuck using only taijutsu and all the injuries took a lot long to heal then before.

"Hey, Sasuke, just where were you trying to aim those to fireballs just now?" Naruto asked as he attempted to attack from above and Sasuke looked to counter with those fireballs, but they missed him completely and just flew straight up.

"I was not trying to aim for you with that," the Uchiha said as clouds above them began to turn black also as if a storm was coming.

"Just what are you planning?" Naruto said. He was not sure what was going on here, but he knew it couldn't be good and was surprised by the sudden appearance of storm clouds.

"You will see" Sasuke said. They continued their battle until he just jumped back after about few more minute of battling where it appeared as if it was about to rain from the pitch black cloud in the sky.

"Naruto, I do not care how fast you are. There is no way that you be able to dodge this even if you are Kyuubi now," Sasuke gloated as he attacked with his ultimate jutsu, Kirin.

In the blink of an eye, Naruto was struck down by bolt of lighting that Sasuke had managed to control from the thunder clouds above them. Since this was real lighting and not elemental chakra, it struck at the speed of light, and even if he managed to avoid the attack, everything with fifty feet instantly reached the temperature of about 54,032 degrees.

With everyone around him reduced to rumble and no sign of Naruto anyway, Sasuke was pleased that he could finally kill his brother. There was no one that could dodge something traveling at the speed of light and with an attack radius that wide.

However, ten minutes later, some of the rumble began to move. A charred, bloodied, and battered Naruto appeared from underneath this rumble. His clothes were completely destroyed and most of his skin had been burned off as well.

"Uggh, Sasuke, just how the hell did you learn to control real lighting of all things?" Naruto mumbled. Although he did not have access to his charka at the moment, he survived solely based on his natural healing ability (without it being enhanced by his charka) and luck, as well as Sasuke being pretty full of himself to just think he died from that attack without even looking for any real proof of his kill.

"Just great. Another person with chakra similar to him," he said sat against the piece of rumble, trying to gather enough strength to move again when human size red toad appeared.

"Naruto, what the hell happened to you and this place, for that matter?" Gamakichi asked. He was summoned beforehand to help in the search and came over here after hearing the explosion that took place.

"Sasuke managed to suppress my charka, then after fighting him with only taijutsu, he used real lighting in an attempt to kill me," Naruto said as he used the toad summon to help him get up.

Flashback ends

**********************************

"Then Gamakichi helped me get through the forest until one of Haruna's guards happened to come across me and then I was brought here where I've been ever since, recovering from having my charka suppressed and healing from that attack Sasuke used on me," he told them.

"Do not worry though, Sakura, once I…" Naruto started but was interrupted by Sakura

"No," she said with her head down.

"But why I promised and…" he said and yet again was stopped by Sakura hitting him lightly on the head.

"I thought that I told you no!" she yelled, standing up and slamming her hand against the wall, causing a hole the size of her fist to appeared when she used her charka enhanced strength.

"You are not going after him again. That person is no longer the Sasuke we knew or he would not have tried kill you the way he did," his teammate told him. It looked like she was about to cry; however, she could not since being only an animated puppet she did not even have the ability to do so.

"I agree. You do not have go after this Sasuke guy anymore. He's not worth it," Haruna said.

"I made a promise of lifetime, Sakura. I might not care what he does anymore, but I will keep my promise to you," the blond told her.

"Then I take it back. I do not want Sasuke to come back anymore. He'll get himself killed by his brother. He's not worth you getting killed over," Sakura told him. "So please just forget about that promise. I take it back so there no reason to continue it. Neither one of us want him anymore" she said.

000000000000000000000000000000000

I would like to thank:

DinoboyKingofallDinosaurs, Demon95, movintarget, bfavregb1, for reviewing my story

Spirit117 for reviewing Chapter 11

Takaiteishu Naruto, morogoth, adlex47, reader ninja, and Jeale for adding this to their Story Alert List

Takaiteishu Naruto, darnod, full metal ninja Naruto, reader ninja, spirit117, kawaii97, BusterSword99, and Quagomay, for adding this to their favorite story list


	32. Staying in the Land of Vegetables

"So we agree on this, right, Naruto? You are not going. You are not going after Sasuke anymore. The promise is null and void. There's no sense since neither of us want him back anymore," Sakura said as Naruto just nodded in agreement.

"So Naruto is staying here, apparently, but where are we going to stay while he finishes recovering? Rin is also going to need time before she is able to walk on her own as well," Ryo asked.

"You all do not have to worry about somewhere to stay because you are friends of Naruto. I will let each of you stay in here as my guests just like he is. You and Rin can use the guest rooms too. They are not that far from here," Haruna told them.

"Thanks, your Highness," Rin said as she did her best to bow while on Gamakichi's back while Ryo just said thanks.

"You do not have to refer to me as your Highness or anything thing like that. You can just call me Haruna, okay?" the brown hair ruler said to her.

"So where I am going to stay? You only mentioned Ryo and Rin," Sakura asked curiously.

"Sakura, you are staying in the guest room as well," she replied.

"Why do you have we have to stay away from Naruto? I am sure I noticed three rooms nearby where we are now," the pink hair girl asked.

"One of those is my room the other belongs to my parents while the third is a VIP room sorts of like this one," Haruna told her.

"Let me guess, this room is right next to yours," Sakura said. A jealous feeling popped in her heart, knowing that she was not going to be close to Naruto. Whenever staying with Daimiyos before, they were always roomed right next to each other.

"I see nothing wrong with that. Naruto is a very important VIP to m…I mean, to this country. He deserves this room," Haruna told them. The silent glaring contest began between Sakura and her with big fake smiles plastered on both their faces since they did not want fight in front of a recovering Naruto.

"So, Naruto, I…." Haruna started to say before the door then opened up to reveal one of Haruna's advisors standing on the other end of it.

"Excuse me for the intrusion, your Highness. There is an issue that requires your immediate attention," the advisor informed her.

"Surely it can wait just few minutes. As I you can see, I'm with Naruto here," Haruna said to them.

"I know, your Highness. We all now just how important your time with Naruto-sama is, thus we wouldn't normal bother you. It's about that, you see," the advisor said, placing emphasizes on the word 'that'.

"Very well, if you will excuse me, everyone. I must be going; however, I will be back later, Naruto, so please do not try to push yourself, alright? Enjoy the ramen! I made a special kind I learned from girl named Ayame," Haruna told him.

"Sure," the blond responded as the ruler of Land of Vegetables left with her advisor to attend to issue that required her attention.

"Alright then, now that my story about how I got in this condition is finished, do you want to know about what been going on with Kakashi-sensei in the twenty years you were stuck as a statue?" Naruto asked Rin.

"But how did you know I was turned to stone for that long? I do not remember me or Ryo telling you," Rin asked with a confused look on her face.

"The fact that you are Kakashi's teammate that disappeared twenty years ago and you are still twelve means that you were subject to jutsu that freezes a person in that particular moment in time. Also the left over charka from a petrifaction jutsu still within your system would make so that it's hard for you walk. I experienced something like that once when my leg was reverted back to normal after being turned to stone," he told her.

With that cleared up, Naruto then went about giving her a brief history lesson of the last twenty years.

"You are lying to me, right?" Rin asked. Once again, she had almost spilt off the toad summon from the shock of learning that Kakashi had become a person that was chronically late and always gave crappy excuse for why. She could not believe that was the same person that used to get on her when she was only five minutes late while he kept his own team and others waiting for hours before even showing up.

"So, Sakura, you are one of Tsunade-sama's apprentices. I did not think she would ever take any other apprentice then Shizune," Rin said amazed as she tried to become the Sanin's student once and was shot down.

"I did train under Tsunade-sensei for nearly three years to become stronger, yet it was not enough. In the end, I still needed Naruto to save me," the pink haired Chunin said as she hung her head down, ashamed of herself.

"That was not your fault, Sakura. It was mine. You are strong really strong now, so much in fact, that I was amazed at the sheer amount of strength you gained while I was gone. It's just I made the wrong decision in leaving you and Chiyo behind to face Sasori all by yourself," Naruto told her as he became depressed in remembering what that decision led to.

"Sasori…Sasori of Red Sand?" Rin asked as she face when pale.

"You know about the guy or something?" Ryo asked, curious because she got a curious look from Naruto and Sakura as well.

"Of course, it was Sasori of the Red Sand that Kakashi's father and teammates almost died fighting during a mission. Though, the ungrateful bastards got mad at him for saving their lives rather then just leaving their ungrateful asses behind and completing the mission they were told, since it was a mission into Suna territory," Rin spoke with disgust. After Obito's death, she looked managed to find the mission report for that failed mission.

"So, Rin, do you want Gamakichi to take you back to Konoha?" Naruto asked and Rin just sadly shook her head no

"I cannot go back there. It's not like I can just walk to the front gate and say, 'Hi, I am back from failed mission that left me a statue for two decades before finally being changed back to normal.' Like they would really believe something like that. Also, I am supposed to thirty two years old, but look at me! I am still the same twelve year old girl I was twenty years ago. If I go back, I might be considered an impostor or missing nin since I am sure know nobody knows what really happened to me," the girl explained.

"I heard a rumor about Sasori once before leaving Konoha for my last mission that he takes his victims and turns them into human puppets while they are still alive. Did he do that to you, Sakura, and somehow Naruto is animating your body and is hiding your true appearance?" Rin asked. She managed to piece this together from what she knew about Sasori, her first meeting with Sakura where she was completely unresponsive, and what Naruto had told her just now.

"You see, the thing is that…" Naruto tried to explain since he did not want anyone to know that Sakura was just an animated human puppet at the moment if they did not need to, but he was stopped.

Sakura herself told the brown hair girl. "Yes, Naruto saved me from being just another human puppet in Sasori's arsenal and I am currently able to move around and talk thanks to the combined effects of Naruto, Ryo, and Jiraiya making a seal for me," Sakura told her.

"Also, according to Naruto, that bastard Sasori thought since I, along with a woman named Chiyo, managed to destroy his two favorite puppets, that he would turn me into their replacement by giving me the tail from one and the black sand of other one," she explained, showing the black sand. It appeared as an orb in her hand and that her 'belt' was really a tail that she just kept around her waist.

"What do you mean 'According to Naruto'? Don't you remember that fight yourself?" Rin asked curiously.

Sakura then shook her head no, replying "I cannot remember anything beyond going to bed the night after me and Naruto had ramen with Kakashi-sensei after successfully taking the bell from him during our second attempt at the bell test."

"The bell test; I remember that one myself. Our sensei did that to us too where I…ummm…passed out after getting caught in genjutsu, and well, let's just say that it wasn't one of my better moments," Rin said.

"Let me guess, you saw a severely injured image of a crush coming towards you?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah, that…I mean….Okay, you're right. I did, but how did you know that?" the Kakashi's former teammate asked.

"Same thing happened to me and I passed out again after waking up and seeing my crush trapped by the headhunter jutsu," the pink haired Chunin sighed.

"Well, Rin, what are you going to do now since you are not going to return to Konoha? Are you going to try and stay here or something?" Ryo asked.

"I would like to travel with you all. I want to repay Ryo for giving me my life back and maybe learn from Sakura what Tsunade-sama taught her?" Rin asked. She was not sure if they would allow her to stay with them or not.

"This is not going to be easy trip, you know. If you stay with us, there is a group after me and Ryo," Naruto said.

"I am sure. I am good with medical jutsu, and with me and Sakura along, you have someone else that can heal you and Ryo when you two get injured," Rin said.

"Ummm…Rin, I cannot use my medical jutsu to heal anyone other then me. I can't, nor am I sure if I could teach someone," Sakura told her, not sure of her ability to teach anyone.

"You will do fine, Sakura. You were always the smartest member of our team and remember how you helped me during with tree climbing and all those other times you explained something I did not understand?" Naruto told her.

"Okay then, I'll give it a shot, but I don't know how much I could teach you though," Sakura replied.

"Right, Sakura-sensei," Rin said to her. However, this got a strange reaction for the pink haired Chunin. Here was someone calling her sensei, that despite looking twelve, was almost twice her age. But then again, she was currently a human puppet animated by Naruto's and her own charka.

"Though, there's something that I've been wondering. Just who could be after Ryo? Naruto, I could see because the rumor twenty years ago said that there was a person who was looking for tailed beasts or those that contained them," Rin asked curiously.

"Ummm…you see, the thing is, Rin, I am one of the nine tailed demons. The three tailed turtle demon to be exact," he told her.

"Really? I always thought that demons would be older then what you look like in their human form," Rin said once she got over the shock.

"Hey, it's not my fault! I am the youngest of the nine, you know," Ryo told her.

"So, Naruto, where are we going next after you recover?" Sakura asked.

"I am not too sure about that yet," Naruto sighed. He was still thinking about what move would be the best to make next in trying to restore Sakura to her normal self.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000

I would like to thank:

DinoboyKingofallDinosaurs, Demon95, movintarget, bfavregb1, for reviewing my story

Spirit117 for reviewing Chapter 11

Takaiteishu Naruto, morogoth, adlex47, reader ninja, and Jeale for adding this to their Story Alert List

Takaiteishu Naruto, darnod, full metal ninja Naruto, reader ninja, spirit117, kawaii97, BusterSword99, and Quagomay, for adding this to their favorite story list


	33. Staying in the Land of Vegetables Pt 02

As the Kohona chunin known as Rin started to awaken she immediately noticed someone was wrong.

"This is not my room" she said sleepily

However when the reality of this fully hit she began to panic looking around to get better grip on her surrounding. Though her eyes came across a green hair boy around the same age as her sleeping in the bed next to her.

'Ryo' she thought as then all the memories of what happened lately came rushing back to her.

'This is really starting to get annoying!' Rin thought as this was the third time this week she had woke up forgetting what happened to her and that not only was not she inside her room or even in the Kohona itself. She was not even in the time period that she remember last but twenty years in the future.

It had been about a week since Sakura and the others had heard Naruto's story about what happened between him and Sasuke. They were still stayed at Haruna's castle simply there because Naruto was waiting for the his charka to become completely unseal again as well spending some time to catch up to with Haruna which Rin noticed bothering Sakura for some reason.

Though previous petrified kunoichi notice her trying to get between Naruto and Haruna but failing at it most of the time as they both had such exciting things to tell each other about what they had been doing the last three years. What with Naruto training with Jiriaya then on the road to save her sensei and Haruna being the ruler of entire country. While Sakura had only had her training with Tusnade to talk about. Though he already knew about it somehow according to Sakura (unaware of the fact that she had already told him all about thank to her memory stopping shortly before leaving for that faithful mission to Suna which lead to where they are now).

Shaking those thought from her mind. Rin decided to focus on the current task she had before her.

"Hey Ryo get up already!" Rin said shaking the boy who merely rolled away from Rin so he could keep on sleeping.

In the week that had passed Rin's chakra system had returned to normal so that she no longer feeling the side effect of being a statue for two decades and could get around easily on her own again.

A smirk came to Rin's face as notice how the green hair boy just kept moving out her reach as she continued what she was doing until…

"Owwww!" Ryo yelled out as he rolled off the bed and crashed on the ground taking the sheets and Rin (who was sitting on them) with him.

"What are you doing on top of me, Rin?" he asked as noticed her there.

"It not my fault! You pulled the covers down with you and since I was on them it was on naturally I was pulled off the bed with them" she said though notice something she had seen before.

"Ryo is your left eye ummm…fake?" Rin asked noticing for the first time that they were not the same.

"I would not say that my left eye is exactly fake. Though all I will say at the moment is that it's not my original eye. I entrusted my original left eye to very close friend of mine that I had a long time ago back when I was only a one tailed demon" Ryo said

"I see" brown hair girl said in respond.

"So Rin?" he asked.

"What is?" she asked in respond.

"Are you going to get off me or stay on top of me like this all day?" Ryo asked.

"No of course not…ummm….we better hurry as Sakura-sensei is mostly waiting for us" Rin said rushing out the room with a slight blush on her face.

Since Naruto was still recovering and even though he was now fused with Kyubi, he still consider Sakura to be better at chakra control then he was thus told Ryo he would getting lessons on chakra control from her. As controlling his charka would be Ryo's first step into learning how to control his third tail. The only reason he was not losing control of himself again and going wild thanks all that excess power he gain from his third tail was thanks to the seal Naruto had placed on him. So in technical sense he was really just two and half tailed demon as other half of his third tail was sealed away at the moment because of his inability to control all that power.

* * *

About an hour later…

"Okay you are both are doing just fine" Sakura instructed them as having them go through the same drills Tsunade had her go through when she was helping fine tune her own chakra control during her training days with her.

As Sakura looked at them she had strangely curiously look on her face as she looked at Rin then over to Ryo.

"Is there something wrong? Your looking at me like this is breaking my focus" Ryo asked.

"You are a Kugutsu master of both human and demonic variety, right" the pink hair chunin asked curiously.

"Of course as you able to move around like you are because my helping Naruto-sensei and Jiriaya create that seal on your chest" he told her.

Sakura just nodded as she brought a hand to her chest as she constantly thankful to Jiriaya, Ryo, and especially Naruto for allowing her to more then just inanimate human puppet with chakra.

"Its strange but Rin's chakra control seem better slightly better then yours" she pointed out.

"Really Sakura-sensei?" she asked to which she nodded in respond.

"It is not that strange as there are humans that do things better then demons can. That why all but two of us tailed demons were sealed away to begin with" Naruto said as stood about twenty feet away.

"Are you sure that you should be up what about your injuries?" Sakura asked as because she could not use her medical Justus on him or anyone but herself in her current state and his chakra was blocked. He still had some bandages on and leaning against something.

Her inability to help him made feel like she was that helpless genin that depend on Naruto and Sasuke whenever going got tough all over again. With the exception of that one time during their mission to guarding Yukie Fujikaze, the actress who played Princess Gale. Though she turned out be really be Koyuki Kazahana, the rightful heir to the Land of Snow and they ended up helping her reclaimed her country. Though what Sakura remember most was that it was one time she managed to pull her own weight and actually beat one of the major enemies they came across herself. Sure she beat a lot of enemies during missions but this was all after Sasuke left as before it was just normal bandits or thieves nothing like those Naruto and Sasuke fought against.

"Sakura…hey Sakura!" the teen heard as she noticed Naruto was shaking her.

"What is Naruto?" she asked curiously fighting the sudden urge she felt to hit him

"You were spacing out for a space" he told her.

"Oh….well I am fine so do not worry" she told "though what about you are you okay"

"I am fine though I was interesting in see how you were as I have been with Haruna a lot" he said.

"Yeah you have" she said in tone that somewhat show how jealous she was.

"So how did you know about my training with Tsunade-sama again?" she asked.

"Its part of your missing memory. You told me about mostly of it before we…..I told you the rest" he said getting depressed at remember what happened during his time in Suna.

Sensing Naruto becoming depressed by her question, quickly she had to come up with something as she never did like a depressed Naruto as it did not match the image she had of him even back when she thought he was annoying pest and not the very important friend and teammate he was to her now.

"I will make you some ramen. How does that sound Naruto as Haruna is not the only one that can do that for you" she said while mentally adding 'mine will be better then hers too'

"Really Sakura! Thanks! I always wanted to have ramen prepared by you!" he said excitedly pulling her into a hug.

"NNNoooo… pppprrrroooblem" Sakura stuttered as his hug caught her off guard by the sudden hug and ever started to return it before noticing in the distance Haruna looking at her out the corner of her eye as she walked by with some of her advisors. After seeing this she made her mind pretty quickly and immediately returned the hug giving Haruna a smug look before enjoying hugging her blond teammate.


	34. Avengers from beyond the Grave

Later the day….

Sakura was walking through outdoor market place within town not too far away from the castle with Rin looking over various ingredients that were normally found in ramen yet because she only had two of her five sense (sight and hearing) she was completely depending on her sight to ensure she was getting something good.

"Ummm…Sakura-sensei, Why are we out here shopping around? Should not the kitchen should have everything you need to make ramen?" Rin asked.

"That is not the point! I told Naruto I was going to make him some ramen. I will do that with the ingredients I picked out myself not by using anything of hers" her sensei told her.

"I see" the young kunoichi responded as she continued to follow after her.

Though little did the two of them know that they were being watched by two figures in alley who kept their eyes on Sakura in particular.

"Is that really her as she seems like a completely different person now" a black hair man said.

"There no mistaking just look at that pink hair and that that height! Sure they maybe have been two of them with pink hair but shorter of the two is the deadly one. There no mistaking that is the Devil in Pink, The Pink Reaper, or she known to the underground fighting circuit the ruthless Demon Fist Sakura!" said their brown hair companion.

"You trying to get us killed as you know the first two rules of Shinobi Fight Club and the result of breaking them" the man said.

"No I do not know the rules why do not you tell me?" A third voice said shocking the two.

Turning they saw Sakura standing there looking at them with slightly annoyed looked on her face with Rin beside her.

"Now tell me why you think I am some underground fighter?" she asked.

"Sorry we must have mistaken you for someone else as she looks almost exactly like you almost like your twins" the black hair man said slapping her on the back.

"Don….." Sakura said before freeze up and just standing there motionless like a statue.

"What did you do to my….sensei" Rin said before she was knocked out by the second.

"Guess they were not used to seeing civilians that have some ninja skills. Though that seal we were given worked like a charm. It really stopped her from moving completely" a third person said as they appeared looking over motionless Sakura waving their hand in front of her face. For the seal on her back was cutting her off from Naruto's chakra thus rendering her normal human puppet.

"Take both of them away as I have a score to settle with Demon Fist here and we are going to make some money off her at the same time. Though we better hurry before that over obsessive manager of her appears" they said as judging for the way they were dishing out orders. They were clearly the leader of the group.

* * *

"…'t touch me…huh!?" the fifteen year old chunin said as the paper seal was taken off her back thus allow seal craved on her chest to regain its access to Naruto's chakra and animated her again.

"The mighty Demon Fist Sakura. You are going to pay for destroying my Shinobi Fight Club and killing everyone then robbing their corpses blind along with the rest of your manager's group. It's the perfect scam that your group is running as the first two rules prevent people from talking about Shinobi Fight Club thus no one knows there whereabouts at the time so you avoid getting label a serial killer" the former owner of club told her.

"What are you talking about? I am not serial killer and I do not have a nickname like Demon Fist!" Sakura yelled.

"You sure are more talkative now as before you were always silent and emotionless. Hanging off that manager of yours whenever you were not fighting. Who would have thought that apprentice of Tsunade would become an underground fighter" the owner said.

"Sasori, that bastard!!! What was he making me do for six months!" Sakura mumbled to herself as Naruto had not told her and she did not remember which she took as good thing as that guy seem like sick bastard from the way Naruto talked about him.

"Well I going to get revenge on you as you may have killed me once before but thanks to person in glasses I got second chance at life and to get my revenge on you" he said as he snapped his fingers.

A cage appears above the arena area that Sakura was in and within was unconscious Rin.

"That cage has a bottom that will release causing the girl within to fall to her death with the push of a button and even if you try to save her as for some reason you seem to care for her. Can I just hit another button to make the cage explode kill her that that way" the man said while holding the remote.

"What do you want from me as I am sure you got the wrong person" Sakura demand.

"Oh we have the right person as that guy over there was not the one that man in glasses gave a second chance at life too" a familiar voice said.

"Wait your dead I saw you fall off a cliff into water and rocks below!" Sakura yelled as before stood Aoi Rokusho.

"I was not as that fall was not enough to kill me. Though you shatter my jaw to dust with super powered uppercut that propelled though the ceiling of the ring and impaling me on your sword sure was. That last part was probably only to further my embarrassment and making my death all the more painful for apparently insulting you in front of your boyfriend/manger" Aoi told her.

This continued as Sakura was confronted with people she had killed while under Sasori's control but had been revived by same man in glasses. Of course she denied ever killed any of them as she could not stay about Naruto's side if she was cold blooded killer, sure being ninja meant you would kill people but not in cold blood as there was always a reason for it.

Eventually she stopped denying it as her head drop with her bangs covering her eyes as her hands which she using to hold her head also dropped lifelessly to her side causing everyone to wonder if she had finally decided to expect what she had done even though they found it strange that she was actually talking and show emotions when before she was like emotionless doll. Unknowing that she basically was no better then doll, Sasori's favorite doll at time.

Aoi not want to wait to get his revenge jumped the gun and attacked her. In the very next moment history repeated itself almost as Aoi was killed once again at the hands of Sakura. Her left arm shoot out grabbing his neck and crushing it, then letting go of his neck and as his head passed by her hand Iron Sand pierced his skull and then shot in various direction. It created a very mess sight to all those present.

Stepping on Aoi's corpse smashing through with each step, she starting walking towards the others who were taunting her. They were shaking in their boots as they had already been killed by her once before and were only here today because they told she would not be able to lay a finger on them in her current state by the man that gave them a second chance at life.

Boy was he wrong about that as Sakura went about massacring the group one by one in some pretty brutal ways using a combination of all the things she had at her disposal.

The last one of the fighter leftover actually managed get by Sakura's defense as she was thought she had already finished them off. Snap her neck with very audible snapping sound and her head being turned in manner that was impossible normal ninjas.

The fighter was about celebrate having killed his killer but could only stare at Sakura in horror as she did not collapsed to the ground from having her neck broken. She grabbed her head with her hands glowing pale green and twisted her head back into its normal position. What appeared to be her fixing her broken neck (a normally impossible feat) was acutally just her fixing the joints in her neck as this was one of the benfits of not being human at the moment. Sakura in her current state of being could not be killed by having her neck snapped.

Once she repaired the damage to her neck she then went about making sure the fighter was clearly dead this time around crushing his body to dust with her Iron Sand. When she was done she then turned to the one that had set this up the former owner of his own Shinobi Fight Club and starting walking towards him.

"Stay back! Do not come any closer to me" the man yelled yet Sakura ignoring him continued to walk towards.

"If you come any closer I set off the explosive in the girl's cage killing her" the man said as held up his hand or the stump that was once his hand as cut clean off but some Iron Sand that Sakura shot at him.

"You are monster! I knew you were nothing but demon as you certain deserve to be called Demon Fist Sakura. You are not even human as there no way you take have your neck snapped like that and survive if you were human" The man said as she was almost upon by look up before dealing the final blow.

"Well if you rattle the cage of sleeping beast long enough you will eventually wake beast for their slumber. You have no to blame for this but yourself" A voice behind him said as they plunged their hand in the man chest and pulled out his very soul from his body. He then shredded it to pieces to ensure his existence was erased as there would be no returning to the afterlife for him.

This person who was Naruto then threw the man lifeless corpse to the side and check on Sakura. Taking a good look at her eyes. It was clear she was not herself at the moment as they were same emotionless eyes she while she only partially conscious.

"So what happened to Sakura?" Ryo asked as he had just rescued Rin from her cage.

"I had hoped that this would not have happened but it seem that partial conscious state she was in before we created the seal managed to fully awaken her consciousness still exist within her as separate persona that currently in control of her body" Naruto told him

"So that guy pushed her until she entered this state but how are we suppose to get her out of it then?" Ryo asked.

"Not sure really as I am guess she snap out it herself though the problem is when that will happen as I am guessing…well more like hoping she only really dangerous to those she see as enemies in this state" her teammate said hoping that was the case as that how it was when was in this state before.


	35. The Aftermath & Old Enemies appear

Naruto was growling in anger as he watched Sakura with semi-conscious persona currently in control of her body going about cleaning up the giant mess she had made through slaughter of the resurrected guys she had fought here.

"What the matter Naruto-sensei" Ryo asked as he noticed something was getting him mad. Even Sakura stopped what she was doing for a while before being told to continue by Naruto.

"It just that bastard Sasori made her do a lot thing she probably never ever want to remember and this might be one of them as she too good at cleaning up a mess like this which leads me to think that she had done this before while she was under Sasori's control" Naruto told him.

"Another problem is how are we going to explain this to Haruna" Ryo asked curiously.

For Rin was still out cold with probably by genjustu that would have be displaced as she was not that deep of sleeper that she sleep though what Sakura had done. While Sakura herself was covered in blood and currently was her normal self at the moment either. Soon she had done cleaning up the arena some that blood got on Naruto as she clung to one of his arm rest her head on his shoulder.

"We are not going to be explaining any of this. Haruna does not need to know about this" Naruto said started walking out the place.

"How are you going to about achieve that as it possible to say that Rin just got knock out or got lost once this genjustu is lifted off but a blood covered Sakura is going to be hard to explain" the three tailed demon asked.

"I did not want to have to do this but it look like I have store Sakura in a scroll then summon her one I get back to my room and have her clean up there" Naruto said sighing as pull out very fancy looking scroll.

"Where you get that" Ryo asked as Rin was now in natural sleep on his back having the genjustu cast on her undone.

"I got it off that bastard, Sasori. Well at least that where I am guessing I got it from as my mind was clouded with rage and anger at the moment. So I pretty much still can not remember much beyond enjoying killing that guy slowly" he replied as he stored Sakura inside the scroll (which he thoroughly check out and study to prevent any surprise from happening by Sasori since it was originally one of his scrolls).

* * *

Meanwhile elsewhere….

"That exercise prove to be a failure. So what are we going to do now as your attempt at getting revenge failed" a cloaked figure said.

"This is just a minor setback as I will get that puppet back for the humiliation I suffered at her hand" the man with glasses said holding his back as he did.

"You sure are one unique human as that ability of your to reactivate dead cells and grow new ones was able to repair a broken spine" the cloak figure said.

"My desire for revenge at being treated like yo-yo in addition to the back breaking was enormous. That was the most humiliating moment of my life. I could not get my revenge if I had broken back" the man in glasses said

"Though I am shocked she reacted like that as it almost as if she knew what she was doing but completely and utterly slaughtering those resurrected guy's bodies" figure in a cloak stated.

"That pretty little doll was once a teammate of Naruto who want to get that Sasuke back from Orochimaru-sama. So I am guessing that she must have read up on Orochimaru somehow and learned that they only way to kill a resurrected person was to remove their soul. Since she had no means of doing that she completely made their bodies useless as there is a limit to just how much damage a body can take before it past the point in which its impossible to heal" glasses wearing individual said.

"Your attempt to break that girl and then use her as bait for Naruto had failed what happened during the second half of the fight as the seal we were using to spy them was destroyed as result of the battle" his cloaked colleague stated.

"No need to worry about that as it was just minor setback that doll is apparently full of surprises as who knew she reverted back that state once being pushed too far. As promise I help get your revenge on Naruto and you help me get my revenge on puppet girl" he said.

"Like I need your help in beating lowly human as the only reason he managed to beat me last time was because of final piece of the Tree of Life coming to his aid. Remember this well as we are only in this alliance until we take out but Naruto and this Sakura girl" the cloaked figure said

"Of course" Kabuto Yakushi said before vanishing followed shortly by the cloaked figure as he also wished to get some revenge on Naruto as well for putting him through a wall with that new Rasengan of his.

* * *

I would like to thank:

Demon95, morogoth, ArjunaAnja, DinoboyKingofallDinosaurs, and naruto master of the jutsu's for reviewing my story.

QueenThayet12990 and Drake G. Reaper for reviewing chapter 32

RANMACAT for reviewing chapter 31-32

KrulesToraUma for reviewing chapter 04-05

DeiDei-kunsgirl for reviewing chapter 01.

ArjunaAnja, naruto master of the jutsu's, Sakura4eva, AvengerOfDarkness, shadowmane, deomofnight66, Drake G. Reaper, JadelynNB09, AmoZe, and KenZe for adding this to their Story Alert List.

fire-fight0, tiranor2, ArjunaAnja, naruto master of the jutsu's, Sancho323, Sakura4eva, deomofnight66, SotF, Khean, Sadistic Kunoichi-13, shadow ninja koopa, Darthvader2209, Youko-Taichou, Irontemplar, KrulesToraUma, puppet-girl1123, Cherrie-Chick, Raptor2001, MoonRune, KeeLaraRaven, Vorlloro, Sharp-Ear, and Fyras14 for adding this to their favorite story list.

Windlg, Cherry Flavored Grenades, Dark Spidey, and Wyote for adding me to their favorite author list.

Wyote and Dark Spidey for adding me to their Author Alert list


	36. Meanwhile back at Haruna’s Castle

"Your Highness calm down" Yurinojo, one of her personal bodyguard and advisor told her.

As the Damiyo of the Land of Vegetables was pacing around near the front door of her palace mumbling something to herself when her mind finally registered what Yurinojo had said.

"Calm down! Clam down! How am I suppose to calm down? Naruto just up and left without telling me. He told me that he still need time to recover from his fight with Sasuke as well being stuck by lighting with his charka sealed. What if Konoha find him while he still not a hundred percent" Haruna yelled not knowing that Sakura nor him were considered missing nins… not yet at least thanks to Tusnade.

'I did not think that his leaving would effect her majesty this much. Then again he was the one responsible for changing her outlook on life for the better' Yurinojo thought as he saw Haruna order her guards to gather around for an important mission.

Haruna then went about ordering them to go out and find Naruto's or one his companion's location then try and convince them to come back here.

Before the guards could even get that far away the reason behind all this panicking and running around came into view followed by his younger companions.

"NAAARRRRUUUUTTTTOOO!" Haruna yelled so loudly that most of the people in the palace could her screaming the blond's name.

Of course this effected Naruto and Ryo worse of all since not only were they in the same room as Haruna but their enhanced hearing amplified Haruna's basically screaming Naruto's name.

"Huh?" Rin said as Ryo who had been carrying her until just now awoke on the floor to see that both him and Naruto holding their ears.

Haruna was by the blond genin's side apologizing over and over again about what she had done while Ryo was pretty much left to wallow in pain on his own because of this.

That was until Rin had gotten her bearing straight and her brain managed to process what her eyes were seeing fully.

Once this happen, she ran over to three tailed turtle who was currently in human form trying to help him in anyway that she could.

Five minutes later…..

"You can stop that now Haruna as you are the ruler of entire country. What if someone that does not know about our friendship see you like this?" Naruto said

"But I…." she started yet before she could finish he held out his hand in why that was signaling her to stop.

"I left to go out for a quick walk without telling you thus you probably thought I had left because I was full recovery. Something of which I promised that I would not do, so you had a right to get angry. Though I did not think that you would get that angry as it remained me of what Sakura would do when I pissed her off back when we were younger" he said.

"But Sakura did not like as even a friend when the two of you were younger" Haruna asked as she did not like being compared to pink hair chunin especially her younger self which mistreated Naruto.

"Well you know how you were back when we first met. You did not really like me either and thought it was okay to abandoned people and not acknowledge the sacrifice of others as long you keep on surriving yourself" he pointed out.

"I have changed and I am no longer like that" the Land of Vegetable Damiyo exclaimed.

"The same can be said of Sakura too. She has changed as well and into a better person. Sure she still has some of her old habits but overall she a whole lot different then when we were both twelve" he said.

'Having changed over time' Rin thought as she looked down at herself. Despite the passage of two decades her body and mind were still that of twelve year old's despite her chronically being thirty two years old.

'Two decades I spend as statue probably causing everyone including Kakashi to think I am dead. I wonder how much he has really changed since the last time I saw him. Sure, Naruto and Sakura-sensei are his students thus they told me about how he is now yet he was never one to really open to anyone that easily. Does he think about me in the same way he does Obito and probably Minato-sensei' she thought.

Rin was snapped out her thoughts by Ryo's suddenly talking to her.

"He does" the youngest of the nine tailed demon said as if he was able to read her mind.

The once petrified kunoichi was about to ask how he know what she was thinking.

"It was written all over your face as I could tell that you were thinking about that Kakashi guy as he was your teammate after all. Also I know about what you are going through as I once when through it myself a long time ago with very important friend to me" he replied.

"Is this the friend that you entrusted your original left eye too?" the brown hair girl asked.

However all she got as respond from her green hair friend was silence as left the room with her quickly falling afterwards trying to get an answer from him and suddenly feeling a strong jealously toward this old friend of Ryo's.


	37. The Mystery of Sakura’s New Subconscious

Chapter 36 and 37 have been posted

* * *

Naruto sighed as he enter his room in the palace as he really did not expect Haruna to react like that.

"I wonder if the other two Damiyos I know would react like Haruna did if I was staying with them?" Naruto thought as he remembered about Koyuki and Toki.

Out the three Damiyos he knew personally, the one he had seen the most of would mostly like have to be Koyuki. While he had not seen her in person since leaving Land of Snow, because she had not given up her acting career. He continued to see her through movies that she made that which far and few in between now as she was the leader of country after all. She did not have as much time to film movie as she did when she was just actress only but she told him three years ago that she was not giving up on being an actress and she had kept her word.

However rather then thinking about them he had other matter to attend to at the moment. Reaching into his sleeve he pulled out the scroll which Sakura was currently residing in. He had managed to get back here and explain away the reason for his disappearance without having to reveal what he really did to Haruna.

Make sure that the door was closed and locked as being official guest of Damiyo herself allow him to certain level of privacy. Thus he was allow to lock his door and not have anyone bother him until he unlocked them. This might be violation of that trust but he could not allow anyone outside small group that already knew about Sakura currently being a human puppet. Sasori might have used in underground fights and to go bounty hunting but he did so while he had genjustu on her that made her appear to be a normal human. Anyone that saw her true form normally did not live long enough to tell anyone from the looks of it. There were expection of course like Sasuke and Kabuto but latter did not really seem to care while the former was probably too absorb by his revenge to even care.

Releasing Sakura from her scroll she took one look at her teammate before she started removing her clothing.

"Woah! Stop right now Sakura" Naruto demand as she frozen in the middle of lifting her shirt over her head revealing what was underneath to the blond who just remember the connection the two of them shared while she was in this state.

With Sakura in this semi-conscious state she would react to his thoughts thus must have pick up on his plan to get all that blood washed off her and change clothes as well. However because as she was now she had no sense of modesty or worries about another person seeing her naked. She started the second she had picked up on Naruto's plan.

While Naruto just stood there as he wanted to look away but could not really do that as Sakura stood there topless before him having completely remove her shirt. Not really realizing what was wrong the pink hair puppet girl finished taking off her clothes and left them where they laid.

Cocking her head to the side she walked up to Naruto completely nude which was really help him recover from the initial shock of Sakura taking her shirt off before him. Staring in his face she then turned around and walk off to the bathroom to clean herself off as she could not sense anything other thoughts coming from him at the moment thus would do what she last picked up on.

When Naruto finally came around to his sense he notice Sakura was there anymore but just pile of her bloodied clothes instead. He did however hear the sound of running water and rushed over to the bathroom where Sakura was sitting on the side of the tub cleaning herself off.

'Its appear that this time around Sakura's semi-conscious persona is capable of independent actions' Naruto thought as before he had contiously think about her doing something. It was pain at first but he got used to it after awhile.

When Sakura noticed him standing there she walked over to him and handed him the wash rag she was using to clean herself with.

She then turned around and point to her back where there were area where she could not reach herself. Well that technically was not true as since she was not human at the moment. She could simply twist her head in manner that would allow her clearly see her own back then twist her arm in manner on possibly for someone like her.

Naruto gulped as this be the first time he would acutally touched her like this. Sure there were other time like when he craved the seal on her chest. This was more personal then that time as this was like something from out of Ero-Sennin's preverted book.

'He probably have that preverted smile on his face with thumbs up while yelling ok or something like that' Naruto thought as he quickly shook and the following perverted thoughts that came to mind out before Sakura could possibly react to them.

Upon placing his hands on her back to wash out the blood, Sakura straight out like his hands were ice against her body which should not be possible since pink hair friend did not have sense of touch. So his actions should not have cause a respond like what had just happened.

Though as Naruto was thinking over what had just happened he was broken out his thought by a question from someone he was not thinking expecting at the moment

"What are you doing, Naruto?" Sakura asked as she turned her head around to look at him as best she could at the moment.

"Ummm….I….that is…..there a good reason for this!" Naruto said stumble over his word as somehow making direct contact with Sakura's body cause a switch between her personas.

"Why am I naked and in your bathroom?" she asked calmly a little too calmly for Naruto's liking.

In a flash Naruto vanished and pair of spare set of her clothes were in his place. He also got that blood of her back too.

"Ok…ay?" Sakura said as she did not really understand what was going on as the last things she remember was….

Though as Sakura tried search her memories for answer her expression went vacant again for moment before she came around remembering looking for ingredients then she must have come back with Naruto ended up washing up in his bathroom where being his usual self came in on her at the wrong moment.

That must be what happen Sakura reason as her own subconscious mind was preventing her remember what really happened thus the fake story she was now believe was fact.

"Hey Naruto where is my jacket? This is not it?" Sakura asked as she noticed it was not with her spare set of clothes.

"I am getting it cleaned" Naruto told her as he guessed her mind was blocking the events that happened today from her.

"Alright…I better get going would not want Haruna finding me in here" she said quickly exiting once the coast was clear.

Once she was gone, Naruto wonder just how he was going to get Sakura's jacket (formerly his) clean from the blood stains which were not that many as she seem be very protective of it. So stains were the only thing on the jacket as appose to the rips and tears from the rest of her clothes.

* * *

I would like to thank:

Thedarkpokemaster and Negima Uzumaki for reviewing my story.

RANMACAT for reviewing chapter 33-35

Marc for reviewing chapter 26

Haruchai,Negima Uzumaki,linksword01, and DCL1981 for adding this to their Story Alert List.

MidnightTailedKitsune, maliousdei, britaniahottie2, thedarkpokemaster, XDitsYumi, Negima Uzumaki, and sang14 for adding this to their favorite story list.

hinata-fan2 for adding me to their favorite author list.

Drugan and I AM YOU for adding me to their Author Alert list

Also I would like to thank everyone else that has been reading the story so far as thank to them this story has 30,613 hits, has 100 reviews, been added to 10 C2 archives, is on 65 favorite list, and 55 people have added it to their Story Alert list.


	38. Kakashi’s Second Chance

While Naruto, Sakura, and their two apprentices were staying with Haruna in the Land of Vegetable back in Konoha things continued to move on at regular pace without them. The only ones that really noticed or even care that Naruto and Sakura were missing were those that were closest to them. Ino, Tsunade, Sakura's parents, Ayame, Teuchi, Hinata, and most of the what who were now being called the Konoha 11 were amongst those that actually cared Naruto and Sakura were gone for the right reason. However there were others whose intentions were not as good as they did miss the chunin and her genin teammate but not because they care for them. Part of the council mostly those influenced by Danzo were pushing to have the two made into missing nin and the whole looking for Sasuke defense was starting to run thin. Since news of Sasuke killing Orochimaru and Naruto was being spread around the Ninja world at the moment.

At the moment one Kakashi Hatake stood in front of the Memorial Stone where he was reflecting on his own genin team. Of which the Copycat Ninja was consider to be the only member left alive as all of his teammate were either dead or consider dead, yet rather then simply thinking back on his team that he was assigned as genin. He was also thinking of the team he was the Jonin instructor for and how things might have turned out differently if he did not leave two of his students to their own devices. Sure he took good care of his team while they were out of mission however when it came to simply training them , that when he had pretty much abandoned them. He probably taught them only a few things together as team of which one would be tree walking and water walking for Sakura (who pretty much mastered tree walking on her first try). When it came to getting further training he either passed over them to train Sasuke (that being the case with Naruto during the Chunin Exam) or he was passed over for another person (Sakura chose to get training from Tsunade instead at least trying ask him first).

Kakashi was about to leave from the Stone when he noticed that Shuzine had arrived and apparently had something to tell him. Since Sakura had gone missing, Ino or her take his pink hair student's place as being the one to deliver messages from Tsunade-sama to those that were part of the Konoha 11 or their instructors.

"Tsunade-sama has requested your presence as it has something to do with your teams both past and present" she told him.

* * *

Right Outside the Hokage Office's …

Kakashi stood outside the door have just made here wondering about part about this summon from the Hokage being about the genin team he was once a part of rather then the leader of. What could she possibly say about them as they were all gone with him being the only one left.

Opening the door he notice that Jiraya was also there as well standing near by Tsunade with windows around the Hokage's office closed despite it still be the middle of the day. This was done to make so that no one could spy on what was about to talk about, however take to a clever genjustu it appeared as if the window were still open to those looking at the building from the outside.

Once he was inside and the door was closed, Copycat Ninja stood before the two Sanin waiting to hear whatever they had to say to him.

"Kakashi the reason I brought you here is contain within this folder" Tsunade told him as she toss it over to him.

Opening it up and taking one look at the first picture cause him to almost cause the folder to drop from his hand due to the shock of it all. For the picture he saw was with the folder so far were all of photos of a statue best off of his long lost and presumed dead teammate Rin.

Kakashi was about to ask what's the meaning of this photo but urged to continue onward. Upon doing so he was even more shocked as there were few more pictures of the Rin statue but after that there were only pictures of a flesh and blood twelve year old that was dead ringer for Rin with Sakura and green hair boy around her age with yellow eyes.

"We have reason to believe that this girl is the real Rin who went missing twenty years ago and not just some look alike as stories seem to match up with reports of what happened during your mission to the Land of Moon" Jiraiya said.

"As until that mission it was thought impossible to turn someone to stone yet that was clearly proven wrong as multiple people were turned completely stone by Ishidate's petrifying gauntlet. We unsure just how petrifaction process went with Rin but it would explain why she just vanished along with her team and their bodies never found" Tsunade reported.

For it was not all fun in the sun during those that week or so they stayed there waiting for Kakashi to recover from overusing his Sharingan…again. Sakura still had work to do as she was told (via message bird from Tsunade) to gather various pieces of the petrified remains of people. It was so they could be examine them and possibly come with way to reverse the process as you never know when you might run across an ability like that again and it was best to be prepared. For the next time it might not just wear off if only a part of the person was petrified.

"If Rin was statue for twenty years why has not there been a sign or reports of her statue being found until now?" Kakashi asked

He and a team of Jonins thoroughly looked over the area Rin had went missing all those years ago mutiple times and found nothing. Well that was true as they did find a pile of rumble which he now was guessing could have been her teammates for that mission

"Apparently she was picked up by a private collector and kept in a private art gallery until their death, then she was to placed on public auctions. She was then stolen by two mysterious thieves thought to be ninjas from the methods of extraction and how they managed to run away so fast despite their heavy load. The mention of one the thieves having super strength and later Rin appear with Sakura leads me to believe Sakura was one of the two that stole her" the blond Hokage told.

"Okay so Sakura helped steal her then how she back to normal in other pictures as I sure she does not have any experience with dealing undoing petrifaction just in seeing it" the Jounin asked.

"That other kid in the picture her. He mostly undid the petrifaction as despite how he looks now that kid is very skillfully when it comes to Kugustu. I would not put it pass that he has method to undo petrifaction too as apparently their way to control statues like golems" Jiraiya told him.

"Its for this reason that I have called you here today, Kaskashi. Guessing this is the real Rin then she probably under the thought that she as a missing nin from being gone from the village for over two decade. Though due the circumstances of her case and the discovery of being able to turn someone to stone being proven true. Its possible she can be excused from her extended absence from the village thus avoid being made into a missing nin. However this will only apply as long as she is brought back with Naruto and Sakura who also probably think that they too are missing nin when there not" Tsunade said.

"So you want me to go after them then?" Kakashi asked as he was not going to loss this second chance he had see Rin again or bring her home just like how he was not going allow his two former students to become missing nins like Sasuke.

"Of course as you and select few other will make of the team which approach Naruto and his group. They are under the wrong impression that they are missing nin for reason beyond their control. Unlike Sasuke who left for power and revenge, their reasons were different. They left to either save a teammate who has top secert info on the village and its Hokage being Tsunade's apprentice, were captured by an enemy, or subjected justu leaving them unable to return. So to convince them otherwise we need to send people they trust and will listen to if given the chance" Jiraya said.

"These people being?" Kakashi asked curiously.

"You, Iruka Umino, Ino Yamanaka, Yamato, and Hanabi Hyuga. The five of you will make of the team that I am sending to get the four of them to come back to Konoha. As almost all of you have a deep connection with them thus if you approach them in correct manner. It possible they will listen to you however you must be careful as none of them are stupid. It also possible that Naruto, Sakura, Rin, and their fourth traveling companion might see this as trap where we are using those closest to them in attempt to capture them" the Godaime Hokage informed him.

"Which is why I want Pakkun to travel ahead of you guys carry this scroll along with him. With this it should help ease their possible fear of us sending you five out take them out as missing nin instead of just to bring them back to Konoha after a long mission" Jiraiya told Kakashi.

"Sure" the silver hair Jonin argeed as summoned Pakkun then told him what to do.

Kakashi was about to leave when he some things came to his mind at the moment.

"Why are we going on this mission when Jiraiya has already seem to have made contact with them once before would not it be easier if he did this" he asked.

"There something else I need to check on at the moment that prove to be a problem for us later on down the road" the Frog Sanin replied.

"Also I understand about Yamato as although he has no real connection to Naruto or the others. It might be possible for him to control Kyubi's charka using the ability only known to be possessed by First Hokage before him. Though why send Hanabi along with us? Why not send her older sister Hinata or Neji if the Byakugan is needed" the Jonin asked.

"Its for the green hair kid who goes by the name Ryo as I have gut feeling that he might react not so much to Hanabi herself but her overall appearance judging from something I remember seeing in book during my travels over the years" Jiraiya told him.

'That and this might confirm something else that been bugging both me and Jiraiya lately about Hanabi' Tsunade thought to herself as her fellow Sanin and Kakashi left the room.

That being about rough one year before Naruto returned to Konoha, the younger Hyuga Heiress went missing and just when she was about to be considered KIA almost a month later. The younger Hyuga Heiress was found approaching the gates of Kohona in daze before passing out. She awoke three days later with no memories of what happened to her during the entire time she was missing but somehow developed a love of ramen, turtles, and sudden interest in learning all she could about Naruto as well the tailed demons.

* * *

I would like to thank:

RANMACAT, thedarkpokemaster, and NaruSaku fan 100 for reviewing my story.

Rein Lin and NaruSaku fan 100 for adding this to their Story Alert List.

Tinranor,Rein Lin, cola04rc, and NaruSaku fan 100 for adding this to their favorite story list.


	39. Gathering Team Recover Naru, Saku, & Rin

Ino Yamanaka sighed as she stood at the cashier counter to her parent's flower shop. Though she was a chunin and should have plenty of mission to keep her busy. Her talents were not in high demand right now like her teammates Shikamaru and Choji who were both busy with missions of their own. They were still their generations InoShikaCho but being from a family that was not battle orientated or full of tacticians left you without work for some days. That being because most Yamanakas need have someone watching over their body as they used their family abilities. Though there were some that were good at tajustu and ninjustu or did not need someone watching over them .

There was her cousin Fu who was very talented when it came to fighting without the use of their family techniques. She did not see him offer as he was also always working with his partner Torune she believe his name was. Then there was her dad who could use almost all the family Justus without leaving his body or need someone to watch his back all the time. Finally there were those like herself who had gone learned a second set of abilities outside of their family's area of expertise that being the medical ninjustu she learned under Tsunade. However hers was not at the level of say Shizune or even Sakura (who many say might surpass Tsunade herself one day) thus she was third apprentice of Tsunade in abilities as well as order of which she started her apprenticeship.

Not only were thing slow for her as ninja but even thing here as a botanist in her parent's flower shop things were going slowly.

'I wonder what Sakura doing right now? Is she still acting weird like she was that last time I saw her?' the blond thought looking out the front door window.

It had been almost a year now since she had first went missing and a few weeks since she saw her with all those new abilities she had learned somehow. Thinking about she still could not believe that she drew a sword at her own best friend/rival like she had.

"It was like she was there physically but mentally her mind was not all there" Ino thought out loud.

"That mostly because it was not at the time that you saw her" Shizune said as she entered the store.

"Huh Shuzine-sempai? What bring you here today? Care for some flowers or maybe help in dealing with Tsunade-sensei" her junior said rather shocked to see her here as well as answer an question she did not realize she asked out loud.

"I am here for some Sakuras" she replied.

"Of course just like me go get them" Ino said.

The young Yamanaka went about getting the flowers for her senior (Sakura and Shizune having started their training before her) and handed them over. After that she got her mother to take over the shop for her saying that she was going out for the moment.

Yet what had just taken place was actually a rehearsed situation that she was informed of doing whenever important news on Sakura had found out about. There were quite a few people who were interested in her oldest friend's current status and did not have her best interest in mind thus they came up with cover story to hide any information from reaching unwanted parties. However Shuzine of all people coming to Ino asking for some Sakuras seem like dead giveaway of there being new information about the person who was named after them. This would be the case if Shizune did not come by every week buying some. The one detail they were hoping would throw people off was that Shizune would only ask for more then one Sakura when there was something in regards to the MIA chunin.

Meanwhile at the Hyuga Estate….

"Hiashi you must doing something about your daughters as it was bad enough that you broke with tradition and started teaching Neji despite him being in the branch family even if he nephew. Now you are let the potential heirs to the Clan study and/or alter the Gentle Fist style" a old Hyuga elder said.

"There nothing wrong with what my children are doing nor is there anything wrong with what Neji had been taught by me over the years. He the most talented Hyuga to have been born in awhile as not only has he learned two Main Branch moves on his own but has improved upon them in ways that no one else has done before. Even Hinata who is in the Main Branch has yet to figure out how to completely use Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms despite having been taught the traditional way. Though despite this she had made advancements in other areas even creating a few new Justus of her own. While Hanabi seem to be following in the footsteps of her sister and cousin by seeking out training from Gai though I think she only accepted his training in order to summon to get on the turtle summoning scroll he has" Hiashi said.

"Summoning! Why would a Hyuga especially a main branch member want to summon anything. Hanabi was such model Hyuga when she was younger but now ever since that month she had gone missing she seem to have followed in her sister's footsteps" the elder said disappointed.

"What's wrong with me trying to expand my horizons?" Hanabi asked shocking both her father and the elder as she just seem to appeared in their blind spot.

"How many time have you been told not to do that" the elder spoke out clearly upset.

"To many but then maybe it you that should learn something new as everyone here other then Sis and Neji are just too easy to sneak up on" Hanabi said sighing as even her father was easy to sneak up on when he was distract by an elder.

"Just how did you learn to sneak in a Hyuga's blind spot like that as you must tell us for it would be of great benefit to the clan" the elder told her in rather demanding tone.

"Like I would know as it must be one of the thing I learned during that month I can not remember" she said with far off look in her eyes for a moment.

"Great there she goes spacing out again! It was bad enough that her older sister has crush on that Uzumaki boy but now Hanabi seem to have gotten one on some boy too as well number of other weird quirks like

becoming almost obsessed with turtles of all things" the elder said.

"What wrong with turtles! They are amazing creatures that people do not give them credit for" Hanabi yelled as bad mouthing turtles would piss her off in similar manner that someone insulting ramen would for Naruto or possibly Naruto from Kohonamaru.

Seeing as Hanabi would at this for awhile Hiashi was going to use this time to get away at least until Kakashi walked up being guided by Hinata.

"Here is my father but appears we do not really need him as Hanabi here as well" she said.

"Thanks for your help away" he said as he still had to wait though until Hinata's younger sister finished her 'why turtles are so great' tirade.

They had get Guy to let Hanabi sign the turtle summoning contract and find the root of her obsession with turtles soon. Thankfully the two youthful ninja's sense of fashion or the flame of youth was not rubbing off on Hanabi yet despite all the time she spent with them. For that was the last thing Konoha needed was third youthful ninja as two were enough. However rather then speech on being youthful when she saw something unyouthful being done or wearing that strange green outfit . She would give speech on the greatness of turtles when they were put down. Yet managed to insult turtle and do something consider to be unyouthful with the three of them around and you were in for it.

At the Ninja Academy…

Iruka Umino one of the head instructor sighed as some of the student in his current class remained him of some of his favorite students from the past years. Two in particular being Naruto and Konohmaru, with his connection to the Sarutobi mostly being related to them both being close to Naruto.

'I wonder what Naruto is doing right now and if he managed to find Sakura yet' he thought.

Remembering back when Kakashi had put them up for the Chunin Exam after only a year of being genin. He thought that both Naruto, Sasuke and especially Sakura were not ready yet they all proved him wrong. With Naruto being Gaara who until them seem unstoppable seriously injury or even killing everyone in that every had the misfortune of coming in contact with him in a battle.

Though Naruto want the acknowledgement of others he wonder if he was aware of the impact that he had on the lives of so many others by just being around them. The latest person to have their lives changed by him at least indirectly was Hanabi Hyuga. Sure he had no proof of Naruto meeting any main branch Hyuga personally beyond Hinata. However there was no doubt that the younger Hyuga Heiress sudden interest in Naruto and ramen after her being MIA for a month meant something had to have happened involving her meeting him or another person who life was changed for the better because of him.

Just then he heard a knock on the door to his office and told the person to come in.

"So ummm…Yamato was it? What can I do for you today?" Iruka asked curiously as the Jonin in question came in

Though he had an idea as to why he was come here today though and that was to find out something new about Naruto mostly likely.

"Actually it's the other way around this time as there something that I need from you" Yamato said.

"Huh what could I possibly do to help you as you are most likely refers to a mission" the Chunin asked

Despite having taught at the academy for almost a decade he did have over 500 completed mission (though only 102 were above B rank) so he was not putting down his own abilities but from just the impression Yamato gave off he was sure this mission he wanted help with was mostly likely A or even S rank.

"Actually while this a dangerous mission its something that only you have a chance of carrying out as has to do with two former student of yours from a few years back" Yamato told him.

'Former students….he could not possibly mean Naruto and Sakura could he' Iruka thought as if it was a student that only he had chance of reaching then the possibility of it being Naruto was rather high.

So agreeing to help him Iruka left with Yamato hoping that this mission did have something to do with Naruto.

Though as the team to recover Naruto, Sakura, Rin, and Ryo were gather up. There were people that did not have their best intentions in mind gather together as well.

"Ah Fu what is?" Danzo asked as the young Yamanaka arrived in his office.

"As order I have been keeping a close eye on my cousin Ino and have something interesting to report" he said.

As for how Fu was keeping his eye on his cousin well that was being using their family telepathy in manner where he was able to spy on other Yamanakas with them knowing about. Trust that no one would abuse the family's telepathy ability lead to many members not able to defend against one of their own spying on their minds. Though this could only work on certain members of his clan that did not have level of ability in their family justu that could rival his own or Ino's father.

Fuu then reported to the Danzo that there was possibly a new development with Sakura and wanted to know how to continue since the truth surrounding what was going on with Sakura and Naruto was consider one Danzo's biggest issues to be dealt with at the moment. Since getting rid of those two would not only get rid of two possibly Hokage selection but also sully the reputation of Tsunade and possibly help him get the title of Hokage.

Author's Note:

The title for this chapter is called Gathering Team Naru, Saku, and Rin because I could not fit Gathering Team Naruto, Sakura, and Rin Together as the title

I would like to thank:

thedarkpokemaster, RANMACAT, NaruSaku fan 100, Saiyan Videl fan 99, Narudevilfan, and Ryan 9901 for reviewing my story.

Kayla for reviewing Chapter 01

Safire Ranmako, PheonixFarwind, Ryan 9901, rochchen, Saiyan Videl fan 99, and charmeloen80 for adding this to their Story Alert List.

SirPlushie, Safire Ranmako, Dragon Wing Gundam, , Illusive Dawn, Blue-Huntress, Ryan 9901, Narudevilfan, bretmccully, rochchen, soil-fanboy, EvilDaveCanada, and Saiyan Videl fan 99 for adding this to their favorite story list.

GameDemonKing and yugioash for adding me to their Author Alert List.

longsilver777,SusyxLilium, and jo beast master elf for adding me to the Favorite Author List.


	40. The Spy within the Yamanaka Clan Pt 01

Yamato, Kakashi Hatake, Iruka Umino, Ino Yamanaka, and Hanabi Hyuga were all gather in specialized room. A room made for discussing matters of the utmost importance with Tsunade, Jiriaya, and for some reason Ino's father, Inoichi Yamanaka.

"I am sure that the all of you know why I have gather you here together today with the expection of Hanabi" the Hokage said.

Tsunade was about inform Hanabi why she was here but Ino beat her to it

"Yeah, we are going to get back Sakura and that blond numbskull she calls a teammate whose been missing for a year now" she said.

"That part of the mission however there more to it then just that. Among them is brining back two others people as well. One is a kunoichi who was long thought to be dead" Jiriaya said referring the folders that they had all been given.

Upon opening the folder the first thing within it was pictures of girl. That strangely enough looked kind of like Sakura as they had similar hairstyle with the biggest difference being she had brown hair and eyes along with two purple rectangle mark on her face.

"This is Rin, a kunoichi whose been listed as MIA with high chance of being dead, however from the pictures you can clearly that is not the case. Around the time the news of Sasuke killing both Naruto and Orochimaru started spread that Rin was found. Released from petrifying justu she had been under for two decades, she joined with Naruto, Sakura, and Ryo" Tusnade said.

Before taking any question she told them all to look at the pictures follow those of Rin which were all various pictures of Ryo.

"R…yo" Hanabi said slowly as she seem to be stared off into space yet her eyes never left the picture of the green hair boy in front of her.

"You okay?" Iruka asked curiously.

"Huh! I am fine Ryo leave me alone!" Hanabi yelled all of sudden.

This sudden outburst coming from her got the confused stares of those around her minus Jiraya and Tusnade. They only wondered what the connection was between this boy and the younger Hyuga Heiress as it was very apparent that there was one.

"What why is everyone staring at me" Hanabi asked yet got no answer to her question.

"Moving on to the next matter of business. Its in regards to Naruto and Sakura exactly what happened to them during this last year" Tusnade said as Jiriaya took this as his cue to begin.

"I was…" were the only word that the Frog Sanin was able to get out before Ino just collapsed on the table with her eyes completely vacant.

"Hey Ino, what wrong? Are you okay?" Iruka asked rush over to his former student who was now in a unresponsive state.

Surprisingly enough the only person to not show concern over Ino's suddenly state was her own father, Inoichi. Instead of shock and worry over what happen to his only daughter, the look on his face was one of shame and disappointment.

"What the matter with you Inoichi! Do not you see what has happen to your own daughter" Iruka call out to him.

"Clam down Iruka. There has to be a reason for this as Inoichi is not that kind of man" Kakashi told him.

"Ino is like this because he care for her and for the wellbeing of his daughter's best friend" Tsunade perform a quick check on Ino to make sure she was truly okay while in this unresponsive state.

"Just how is this good for Ino?" Iruka asked curiously.

"Another Yamanaka is using their family ability against another Yamanaka for personal gain or something like that. That probably what going on here" Hanabi spoke out suddenly.

"How did you know that?" Inoichi asked

He only told Tsunade his fear of this the other day which was the reason he was even here in the first place. In the record history of the Yamanaka Clan there has not then been a report of something like this happening. So how did not Hanabi figure it out so easily.

"That probably because something similar happened to her already. It possible that it happened during that month long gap in her memory. Things from that time just seem to point up at random" Jiriaya whispered to him.

"So this was the work of Yamanaka that put Ino into this state? So all we have to do is find them and they can return her to normal?" Iruka asked.

"Its not going to be that simple as judging from when it happen this state she in now was not cause by the Yamanaka who was using a member of his own clan to spy on us. As the person behind this obviously wanted to know about the truth behind Naruto and Sakura being gone for so long. Since unless something significant happen to her then Naruto would at least brought Sakura back before leaving again to go after Sasuke. So to do this to her right when she about to learn that fact would defeat the purpose of using her to spy. Thus it was someone else that wanted to prevent that from happening" Kakashi said.

"Then how did this to Ino then?" Iruka asked as Kakashi just looked towards the only other Yamanaka in the room.

"Its true, I did this to my own daughter. I have noticed for the last couple of years that Yamanaka's telepathy is not secure as once was. Mission objective, targets, various other information dealing with Yamanakas has been getting out. As groups containing Yamanakas have arrived only to find it already done or that the target has been killed already. Most of the time it done by those that are not even in the Yamanaka clan" Inoichi said.

"Maybe it just a normal spy getting their information through normal means. So why did you have to do this to your own daughter" Yamato asked motioning to Ino who just starring straight ahead vacantly after being made to sit upright.

"This was no normal spy. I once thought that myself so I tried something and had Yamanakas start using our telepathy ability to pass valuable information that was possibly getting leaked through talking. However even this measure did not stop the leak which not only continued but acutally seem to get worse at times. So when Sakura when missing I had feeling the spy within our clan would target my daughter for getting info about her. Why would not they as it was well known fact that the two of them were close and there was possibility she might be kept inform. That why I set up trigger in her mind so that when someone was about to tell her the truth it would shutdown. A Yamanaka can not use their telepathy or have it used against them if their mind is not activate. The only thing Ino capable of doing at the moment is what needed to keep her alive other then that the rest of her mind has been turned off. Simply knocking her out would not stop the spy in fact it might make thing worse as they would then be able to take over her body flip through her folder learning their desire information that way" her father said.

Tsunade then just sighed as thing just got more complicated since Ino had be part of this mission as the only person Sakura might listen to before attacking given reason to.

Author's Note:

Chapter 41 and possibly 42 will deal with mostly with Ino and to smaller extend Hanabi as I am trying to set up things for when they leave to go after Naruto and co. As for the Hanabi part, it mostly starting point to revealing just what connection she has to Ryo and what happened to her during that month that she can not remember.

I would like to thank:

thedarkpokemaster, Don 77, Ryan 9901, super saiyan Sakura Haruno, Sakura fan 55, Saiyan Videl fan 99, NaruSaku fan 100, Lucy the pokeshipping fan, Rose Contestshipping fan88, Rocketshipping fan for reviewing my story.

Viven for reviewing Chapter 05

Rocketshipping fan, Lucy the pokeshipping fan, Angels Cry Tears of Bood, super saiyan Sakura Haruno, and Viven for adding this to their Story Alert List.

O.-Raven.o.O, Rocketshipping fan, Lucy the pokeshipping fan, kyohei71, DarkMaster1989, Angels Cry Tears of Bood, ..lives, larry40k, SakugirlSasuboy, and saiyan Sakura Haruno for adding this to their favorite story list.

Lucy the pokeshipping fan for adding me to their Author Alert List.

Karu-Mekna Fri and Lucy the pokeshipping for adding me to the Favorite Author List.


	41. The Spy within the Yamanaka Clan Pt 02

It was around this time that Fu had noticed there as something going on with Ino as her mind just shut down and the secret connection he had made between the two of them was also lost

Fu's face formed into a displeased scowl which Danzo noticed immediately.

"Was is it?" the war hawk demanded.

"Its Ino. Her mind just has been completely cut off from me" he reported.

"So why is that problem? Just work to get back connected to it as they were just about to get the important details" his leader told him.

"That not possible sir. The mind is always active even when asleep so the only reason Ino's would be off if she were…" the Root started yet before he finished Danzo interrupted him.

"Dead…Brain Dead at the very least since that weakling Tsunade would not agree to anything like that. She follows the same soft thinking that Hiruzen does. No it possible they just done something we have no idea about so just keeping checking as they will eventually have to undo whatever it is that has been done to Ino before it does irreversible damage" the Root leader told him

Meanwhile back in the Tsunade and the others….

"Why are you so shocked about Ino getting used by another member of her clan?" Hanabi asked curiously of Iruka.

"It not like this has not happened before" Inoichi said sighing disappointedly.

"Did not you just say early that this has not happened in the history of your clan though" Iruka told.

"The 'recorded' history was what he was talking about as the hidden villages we ninja all live in now are only eighty years old. So it quite possible there some reports of this in the unrecorded history of the Yamanaka clan. After all not all the clan were gather all together under one banner like the Uchiha or the Senju were. The formation of hidden villages lead to rival fractions of the same clan coming together and becoming one" Hanabi said.

Everyone then just stared at the twelve year old like she had grown another head or something.

"Why does everyone always do that!" she yelled angry that people would stare at her like this when all she did was tell what should be common knowledge.

'Just what happened to her during the month she went missing as sure mostly everyone knew the hidden villages were eighty years old. On lesser note though there were are not that many that actually knew clans like the Yamanakas and others were not united until that time' Tusnade thought.

"So just what are you going to do about Ino? We can not just leave her like this" Kakashi stated.

"Of course we can not leave my daughter like this as she almost no different then vegetable like this. With every part of her brain but those needed for her survival cut off. However its possible that this is not something that can easily be resolved. Ino could have been unknowingly used for years by this person within our own clan. Various things start making sense once I…." Inoichi said.

The Toad Sanin then interrupted him and then went on to ask if it had any thing to do with Sakura herself and possibly the real reason a genin that at the time was someone that only excelled in chakra control and book knowledge. Got place in the same team as Naruto and Sasuke with one of the Kohona's elite Jonin as her sensei.

"For someone that did not want to become the Hokage. You sure know a lot about Hokage level secrets" Tusnade said glaring at him.

This shocked everyone including Kakashi as he had never really question why Sakura was placed on Team Seven. Sure at first glance she was extremely out of place back then as Sasuke was an Uchiha and consider a genius. Naruto was well himself and in a class of his own in addition to being the holder of Kyubi. Kakashi was known as the Copycat Ninja who knew a thousand justus and student of the Fourth Hokage. Then came Sakura who was nothing more then first generation ninja with only book smarts and nearly perfect charka control.

Tusnade then went on to explain that the reason Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura being on the same team was not just random luck or simply the strongest and weakest on the books being placed together. For if Naruto was the weakest and Sasuke was the strongest where did Sakura fall into this equation. Since she really did not have any special abilities at the time she could have been on any team other then Team 10(because how well their family skills meshed together). No there was reason Sarutobi-Sensei risked placing a fan girl with the very person she was obsessing over.

Then once again Jiraya took over explain that Naruto was not the only one within Konoha holding something capable of massive destruction. There was another similar to him yet no exactly the same though as they only held a piece of something that was rumor to be on par with some of the strongest tailed demons. Though it true full power was unknown it was rumor to be pair with some of the stronger tailed demons because rumors. That stated it was capable of destroy the Five Great Nations thus it had to at least have the power of tailed demon or something just as powerful. It was for this reason that almost dozen seemly normal girls with the exception of one unique trait from all over Land of Fire were watched from afar under the Third Hokage's secret orders. The Toad Sanin then informed them all that just a few days before the final segment of the Chunin Exam four years ago that he was told the identity of girl was Sakura all along.

Though it was not until he was on his training trip with Naruto that he told everyone about how he got more details dealing with just what was contained with Sakura. Apparently unlike Naruto who had Kyubi sealed within him. This was something that Sakura was literally born with as the force is her charka itself. Her charka combine with the charka of four others would be the key to awaking this weapon. Those that managed to seal away the weapon originally had entrusted five normal civilian family from five different nations. The key to keeping this weapon sealed by bound to their very charka. The idea was that no one would ever think of looking towards a otherwise now civilian family to having the keys to multi nation destroying weapon.

I would like to thank

thedarkpokemaster, Don 77, Kevinrock8899, Lucy the pokeshipping fan, Rose Contestshipping fan88, May Drew 4every, Rocketshipping fan, Super saiyan Sakura Haruno, NaruSaku fan 100, Sakura fan 55, dragonball z fan 300, Saiyan Videl fan 99, Gohan Videl fan 489, BabiiCupiid16, and Kevinrock8899 for reviewing this story

Smexy Itachi-San, The Three Kings, aquafaze, BabiiCupiid16, RandomAnonymousMan, Krizzie Cruz, Dreadalus, dragonball z fan 300, Sakura fan 55, Kevinrock8899, Shinso Moka, and Dunk234, Story: The Cherry Blossom Puppet for adding this to their Favorite Story List

Aquafaze, hamsterfist, BabiiCupiid16, RandomAnonymousMan, KoalaKiller, Sakura fan 55, May Drew 4every, and Kevinrock8899 for adding this to their Story Alert List.


	42. The Spy within the Yamanaka Clan Pt 03

Author's Notes:  
Well it been about a year since I last update this story not because I lost interest in it. But simply because I been distracted by a number of other things, among which were both personal and just me being distracted really.

I would like to thank:

Alex Warlorn, naruto master of the jutsu's, Dria-chan's Tayu-kun, Demon95, King Hawke, Kage Kitsun, mkt, RANMACAT, RyangAuel, and ArticEmber for reviewing my story.

Dreamergirl92813, Shironami Kane, isildurelendil, , RyoAens, Rbsm77, Master of Thoughts ,SrgntDrew, Kage Kitsun, HolyKnight5, seeds of war, bobbinbird, lordofknightmares, Aoirann, gxs2pmsing, Lord Ghost Fox, and Nygroover for adding this to their Story Alert List.

FoxHero007, , RyoAens, Nine De Five, Rbsm77, RANMACAT, Kage Kitsun, Aoirann, for adding this to their favorite story list.

Awesome Naruto stories and MoT's Interesting stuff, My Favorite stories Forums, Shadow Patronus FAVORITOS, My All Time Favourite, Racsie's Favs, random naruto for adding this story to their C2 Archives.

Kage Kitsun for adding me to their Author Alert and Favorite Author list

Nygroover, FoxHero007 and RANMACAT for adding me to their Author Alert

RyoAens and Master of Thoughts for adding me to Favorite Author list

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 "Well any luck in reconnecting with Ino's mind?" Danzo inquired from Fu.

"No luck, sir. The connection I set up is completely cut off and it been far too long for her mind to remain in its current statte. Having this justu activate too long could result in the person actually becoming brain dead or at least suffering from some kind of brain damage" he reported.

Danzo was pissed as he was sure that no Yamanaka still was aware of the counter measure to defending against attacks from one of their own. This was turning out just like the one time roughly a year after vessel for Kyubi had left on that training trip. That someone had managed to undo suppose to be lost justu that a branch member of the Hyuga clan used on Hanabi. Danzo was rather shocked that idiot actually carried out the plan as according to third party they were working with. They were suppose to work together with him as he wanted to give Hanabi away for the method of undoing the caged bird seal. Then screw over the third party. He was somewhat pleased that the branch members body had been found. Save him the trouble of having to have ROOT members hunt them down and do it themselves. Betrayal was something he did not take lightly when it was done to him. Things worked out for the best really as Hanabi came back somehow not only with her eyes intact but the justu cast on them undone. Not only was the justu done but something seem different about Hanabi and was not just her sudden obsession turtles. There was something different about her eyes yet no one really knew what it was exactly though. Other then her just being do thing other Hyugas could not, similar to her older sister and cousin.

Now not only that he finally had something he might be able to really use against Tsunade. To get the other elders and possible some members of the council to side with him. Then push that the Fifth Hokage be made to step down and he takes her place as the Sixth Hokage. However to reveal this info about what possibly happened to Ino would be dangerous if it was not fully true. The question of just how did he know what was going with Ino would come up along with a number of other question he did not want to answer that cause the opposite effect that he wanted.

Danzo really did not like when lost justu reappeared, they were not ones used by him or ROOT.

Back in the top secret room….

Ino blink her eyes as life return to them. While her mind was cut back on to completely and to full working order again.

"Ahhhh…my head what the hell what to me?" she asked out loud.

"Guess you would have a headache consider the face plant you did on the table when that justu activated" Hanabi told her.

"What…..HAPPENED TO MY HAIR!" Ino yelled as she ran her hand through her hair only to feel that it stopped at her neck. Her hair had not been this short since her and Sakura first met when they were kids.

"It was cut" Hanabi told her bluntly.

"How do…" Ino started then saw her dad looking at her like he had something to say that was important.

"With scissors" Hanabi told her get in the way between her and her dad.

She tried using their family telepathy since seem like it was something private but found she could not do it.

"Its not going to work no matter how hard you struggle to make it" he told her almost as if he had read her mind.

"Why? All I can say is welcome to the club of people that had family members use their family's justu again them" young Hyuga said.

"Can someone tell me what is really going on" the blond Yamanaka asked as Iruka held back an angry Hanabi who felt ignored.

Ever since that month Hanabi had gone missing people did not always take what came out her mouth seriously. Most of the time because she would not seem to remember it herself moments later or just get angry when she was questioned leading them to ignore her (anger her even more really).

"It just as Hanabi had said another member of your family was using you to spy on us and has possibly been doing it for years" Tusnade told her third apprentice.

Ino looked confused over what this had to do with her having black out, the headache, and her hair now back to the height she had when she was around six years old.

With heavy sigh her father explain everything to her and also told her that the reason the family telepathy did not work and her hair was short was connected. The reason being she had seal drawn directly on her scalp(meaning she had been completely shaved bald). Once activated it went sunk into her head and latched on to her skull. Where it would not only prevent someone from using Yamanaka abilities into getting her head but also was preventing her from using them herself though.

As for why she had hair again after being shaved bald for the seal. That where Jiraiya came in as he knew hair grow justu that could be used to re-grow at least decent amount of it back. It was the based on the same principle behind the justu he himself used to make his own hair grown and become armor of spiky quills like those of a hedgehog. Using the first half to the just only the Frog Sanin simulated Ino's hair to grow and stop it before it could go through the transform from hair to spiky quills.


	43. Back to the Mission Briefing

I would like to thank

thedarkpokemaster, Saiyan Videl fan 99, dragonball z fan 300,NaruSaku fan 100, Gohan Videl fan 489, super saiyan Sakura Haruno, May Drew 4every, Rose Contestshipping fan88, Don 77, lost fan don, Rocketshipping fan, happy everyday life, Zefeh for reviewing my story.

ScarletVirus33 for reviewing Chapter 04

Ryan 9901 for reviewing Chapter 31

Ichiron47 for reviewing Chapter 39

haneumarider0827, Zefeh, RekOLot06, ScarletVirus33, LordRahl80, Naruto Sakura Uzumaki for adding this to their Story Alert List.

VampireTwin234, haneumarider0827, ExaltedNekoKun, Zefeh, Sharky97, Vox Rodan, dwskulldemonmen, sango77djr, ratratking, turaflex tager, LordRahl80, Naruto Sakura Uzumaki, freedom rings in a howl, Frost713462, and cuzzinerd for adding this to their favorite story list.

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

"Anyway now that the problem with Ino has been settled. It time to get back to business at hand getting to discussing what has been happening with both Naruto and Sakura recently" Tsunade said.

Taking one more moment though to insure that was not possibly someone was listening in on them. She began clearly her throat and motion to the folders they all had in front of them.

"As she probably know already Sakura originally went missing on the mission to save Gaara, the current Kazekage, who had been taken by the Akatsuki. Left alone to battle Sasori with Chiyo, both Sakura and her lost to the man. From there I am sorry to say that Sakura fell victim to the man sickening hobby of turning his foes into part of his collection" the Fifth Hokage said.

All those around could only looked on in shock as they saw the pictures of Sakura as human puppet from head to toe. Not only that they noticed the 'additions' that Sasori had made to her like the tail she now had as she was lying shirtless there on table her vacant eyes staring blankly at the ceiling.

"These images that I managed to take from when I was with Naruto and the others myself. Just do not tell him I took these as that guy would be really pissed I did this. Not to mention Sakura herself as she being exposed here in more ways then one after all" Jiraya told them.

"Wait then Sakura is dead! How is that even possible as when I saw her last time she was just fine, sure she almost attack me, looked weird, and had new justus. However she was not like this!" Ino exclaimed not want to accept that the Sakura puppet in the picture as what her oldest female friend was at the moment.

"Might be hard to accept but this what Sakura is at the moment a human puppet almost that similar to how Sasori was revealed to be. The main different between Sakura and him though comes from Naruto, Ryo, and myself. On her own Sakura is no different then any other one of human puppets Sasori has created. Though when feed charka in certain manner she will spring to life and thanks to our efforts her consciousness was also awaken" the Frog Sanin told them.

"So if Sakura is currently activate because Naruto is feeding her charka in certain manner. Just how long can he maintain this as even Naruto has limits after all…really high ones but limits none the less" Iruka asked.

"That's not a problem he just fine supply Sakura with constant stream of charka" Hanabi said at random.

'Really hope they get Ryo to spill the beans on what happened between him and Hanabi' Jiraya thought as he did not even seem to be aware her .

"Well what Hanabi said is actually true as Naruto has no problem giving Sakura a constant stream of charka to keep her animated. That because of what happened when he finally managed to come across Sasori and learned of what he did to Sakura himself" Tsunade told them.

Pictures of Naruto shown him as how he looked without the genjustu he used to look like how he did before confronted Sasori.

"The reason he not effect by constant demand Sakura need to stay animated is because he no longer has the Kyubi sealed within him. Naruto has merged with the nine tails itself and in doing so become the demon. He released him from the seal and rather then being overcome and being absorbed into Kyubi. The reverse happened as Naruto absorbed the demon into himself" Jiraya informed them.

Kakashi, Iruka, and Ino all seemed rather shocked as they knew Naruto was good at defining the odds but this was beyond what they would have ever expected. However they were equaled shocked that Hanabi did not seem that shocked yet when she saw a picture of Ryo together with Rin. That when she reacted with utter shock over it for some reason. After this Tsunade and Jiraya also inform about how Sakura was used by Sasori so it was not that much of shock to them as they were sure at least one of them might bring that up. Weather be Naruto or possibly even Sakura who was informed of her actions she had commit while just normal human puppet under Sasori's control.

Anyway the objective of this mission is to get them all to come back to Kohona. All of them minus Ryo more then likely think they are missing nin for one reason or another. This why you all were picked for this mission. There a chance they might listen to you more then anyone else or at the very least get Sakura on your side. She might have changed at lot both in body and mind yet out of all them she might be the easiest of them listen to what you all have to say Tsunade told them.

With the mission and background info for it now out of the way. The team gather together to prevent Naruto, Sakura, and Rin for becoming missing ninjas for real rather then just thinking they were. Began their way towards the Land of Vegetables where they were all currently last spotted within.

After having returned to her office and having seen Jiraya off as there was something he too was going off to check out at the moment. The Fifth Hokage noticed Shizune stand near her desk apparently waiting for her.

"Did something happen while I was away" she asked her old friend.

"Not really however that breifing took longer then I thought it would" she replied.

"Things came up that were not expected and some that I did not really want to be true. Like the fact that someone with Ino's clan now has turned to using justu against their own clan members. Unlike Hanabi, they have apparently been using her for years" she said.

"That is rather shocking. Though do you think that they will be able to convince them all to come back before it too late" Shizune said.

"I hope so as not only are they very important to me and number of other people. The brat should have none he could have come to me or at least waited just a little longer before getting my okay to leave" her sensei said with sigh.

'What done is done. Hopefully they just listen to them and at least get back here before they are unable to do so as two chunins and genin, rather then three missing ninjas' she thought.


	44. Author's Note

There a few things I been wondering about when comes moving forward with this story. Its not like I gotten stumped or anything it just there variety of paths I been thinking about but not really sure as to which one to go down at the moment. When looking them over most of them are kind of the same but there slight difference between each other them change the direction the story is going in. Thus I was wondering if it would be possible to get some feedback on the ideas. If interesting just send me a private message(PM) or just leave a review saying you are(if you do not know how to send a PM). While I could just write the ideas in this Author's Note but that would be spoiling a lot of what I have planned out for future chapter so far.

Also would be interested in hearing some ideas for what you would like to happen next. Not saying I would do them exactly but might if they interesting me enough


	45. Sakura's Special Ramen

I would like to thank

thedarkpokemaster, Ryan 9901, Rose Contestshipping fan88, Rocketshipping fan,lost fan don, Gohan Videl fan 489, NaruSaku fan 100, super saiyan Sakura Haruno, dragonball z fan 300, May Drew 4every, Sakura fan 55, Saiyan Videl fan 99, Hinata'sMuse, and The Keeper of Worlds for reviewing my story.

Phoenixfirewolf, luckienumber, KaristaZ, Megaman88, Adrian Nightshade, wolfscry248, Kanade n.n for adding this to their Story Alert List.

naukusaukko, luckienumber, jowilleatyuh, Hinata'sMuse, mrgirmjaw, KaristaZ, mnhwalova, Tsiera, solonotes, Megaman88, ilovetimbits, Adrian Nightshade, wolfscry248,Kanade n.n, The Keeper of Worlds, shysub226, silvermoonmanga, and Lunaryon Lord of Chaos for adding this to their favorite story list.

Sakura Haruno Puppet and Rebel Gurl2013's Archive of Faves for adding this story to their C2 Archives.

Author's Note:

This has taken so long mostly because I have been distracted by other story and thing in real life. This chapter(the second half of it) is one that based off a picture I saw and just decided why not try something based off it. Can not really find that picture anymore but thought it was interesting enough to do this  
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

It had been a few days after the whole incident that Sakura and Rin were put through that was black lash of Sakura's time as Sasori's Pink Reaper. She heard a knock at her door of her room while their group was staying here at Haruna's castle. Opening the door she was greeted by one of the castle servants.

"Your jacket, Miss Haruno" the servant told her as they handed it over to her.

Thanking them she took her jacket and closed the door behind them. Just looking over the now clean and blood free piece of clothing. It really was just interesting how Naruto managed to get someone to clean this without having to explain to them just how all the blood stains got on them or how they managed to get them off so well. Being trained to be combat medic by Tsunade herself, Sakura had developed some means to achieve get blood out of clothing. One that she had developed mostly during her training as there were time she did go home covered with blood stains on her clothes. After all no pain no gain as there were times when she failed to dodge her master when they practicing dodging and she was struck. Then there other training accidents she had while practicing to use medical chakra on realistic dummies.

Sakura held her jacket up to her nose. Though this action really did not have any purpose as she technically was not able to smell anything to begin with, only having her sense of sight and hearing. However the action was the important thing at the moment as she used the memory of knowing what freshly cleaned clothes smelled like. With her eyes closed she think back to those memories and use her imagination think about how her jacket would smell now that it was clean once again.

"You really like that jacket is it because was originally Naruto's" Haruna asked leaned on the door.

Sakura quickly trying to hide said jacket behind her back, she kept her eyes closed as wanted to gather her thoughts.

"I have no idea what you are talking about. You must have been seeing things and why are here was not my door closed" the pink hair chunin stated after opening her eyes to address her.

"Well first off the door was open and there really there nothing wrong with what you were doing" Haruna said nothing want to mention that she did the same thing early herself "but I have rarely seen you smell anything while here even when it would be expected of someone. Only when you have been around Naruto and the others, they nudge you and then you would seem to smell it" Haruna told her.

The two kept going after this and things degraded into the they were both in an argument between them with no one really winning as both walked off each feeling they had gotten the last word(when truly neither one them did).

Having left her room Sakura ended up in the kitchen as one the last thing Haruna had said was about her cooking. She was gloating on the fact that Naruto like her ramen yet she also never since Sakura cooking anything. Suggesting that she can not and depend on her team to cook her rather then help by doing it herself sometimes. If there was one thing that could really get to Sakura it was feeling like she was not helpfully to her team. Which was not true as she contribute in number of ways she was not even aware of.

Of course she still had that ramen she had wanted to make and with everything that happened when she went out the last time to get the needed items she kind of forgot thus decided she would go about doing that now.

"Sakura-sensei what are doing in here" Rin asked curiously as she noticed her in the kitchen some time later.

"Nothing important just making something" she replied.

Looking at all the stuff she had taken down and she managed to figure out what her sensei was trying to do. She was actually glad that she managed to come by before she really got started in making anything. There was some stuff she had out that did not belong and informed her of such things. Grumbling a bit her pink hair sensei agreed to her student helping her make some ramen.

"Done" Sakura said rather pleased with herself at the ramen she had made even though she had to use the stuff here in the castle rather then what she had original went out to buy.

Looking around she noticed that Rin was gone and so was the bowl she insisted was a 'test bowl'. Guessing where she was going with that bowl that she just shrugged as she had feeling that what she was going to do anyway. Sakura then started to towards looking for Naruto, guessing his room would be the best place to start.

An hour later…

After having caught Rin trying to hand over some ramen to Ryo. Naruto wonder if there was anymore and got told that Sakura had made this ramen for him really. So he then started search for Sakura only to find that he could not seem to find her anywhere. That when he notice the smell of ramen rather strong too and not to mention that it was coming from his room. Heading over there he opened the door only to be shocked at what he saw when he entered the room.

There in a giant bowl of ramen was a nude Sakura with her genjustu off so her true form of just being an animated human puppet and when she noticed Naruto she motion him to come towards him. Naruto just stood there in shock as he had certainly had some dream about this but wondered just what triggered this off. He wonder just what happen to cause her sub conscious self to surface again and do this for him as he was pretty careful not let any stray thought like this escape and get to Sakura through their link.

"Naruto what is going on…here" Haruna asked she too noticed the strong smell of ramen coming from his room.

Managed to take his eyes off Sakura he turned to try and explain things to Haruna but she seem to be entranced by something. Shrugging off the blond when he tried to stop her for moving towards Sakura. She then took off her own clothes and climbed into the ramen bowl with Sakura. Both them were now trying to get the blond to come over to them.

Having the two of them there did cause a trickle of blood to escape from Naruto's nose. After all he had two girls naked in giant bowl of ramen. If he were more like his master he would already be jumping in but knew there had to be something wrong here. Sakura would not just go about doing this and it was clear that something was wrong when Haruna got in on the act. As the two girls silencing beckoning him to join him in this bowl, he realized that the door was wide open and anyone else that walked by could see this sight.

Slamming the down as he noticed someone else coming and closing the blinds in flash to prevent this scene from being viewed by anyone else. He had to think of something to snap the two of them out of whatever apparently controlling them at the moment. So distracted he did not even notice that because the blind were close enough, Sakura's tail wrapped itself around Naruto's arm. Pulling the blond towards her, he was then brought into a kiss that gave she gave him and he even felt her tongue forcing itself into his mouth. While the entranced Haruna scooting over to doing something as well.

However while Sakura was French kiss Naruto something happen the moment her wooden tonuge touched something inside his mouth.

"Huh!?" Sakura said

Seeming coming to her senses all of sudden and when she realized what she was doing her eyes widen mentally(while they can blink human puppet can grow in size like normal person). Then realizing that just how many kisses was she going to have when she was not even fully self aware at the time.

"Naruto! What the hell is going on here!" she yelled after the two them separated at lighting speed.

The blond just stumbled in a rushed explanation that actually was met by equally rushed and stumbled reply as the gravity of the situation and what she was doing fully hit Sakura as still entranced Haruna pushed her aside to try get to Naruto.

Managing to get dressed and undoing the whatever was overcome Haruna. It seem similar to a genjustu as merely using 'kai' to dispell it seem to work leaving the Land of Vegetable ruler unconscious. Having done this they took her back to her room and left her there. Haruna awoke later and shared that she had very strange dream with Naruto and Sakura while they at breakfast the following morning. She could not recall what it was about and the two Team Seven members said nothing in regard to the 'dream' Haruna was talking about (having agreed to never speak of the events of the other day ever again).

Meanwhile elsewhere…

"That was interesting test we performed the other day" one shadowy person said

"Control over them is not perfect as one of them was able to counter it. Did not expect that to happen as she was not suppose to do that nor was the other one" another said.

"At least we know now that they are the two that we are looking for" a third shadowy figure stated.


	46. Rin's Training Session

I would like to thank

mrgirmjaw,The Keeper of Worlds,Don 77,Kevinrock8899,Lucy the pokeshipping fan, Ryan 9901,Rose Contestshipping fan88,May Drew 4every,Rocketshipping fan, lost fan don,super saiyan Sakura Haruno, NaruSaku fan 100,Sakura fan 55,dragonball z fan 300,Saiyan Videl fan 99, and Gohan Videl fan 489 for reviewing my story.

Scarlet Mannequin,Soaring Demoness, marlilsis, Aleucard, shadowvyper, S.R.457, Skadoosh11, TerraBull, vGumiho, and Claz for adding this to their Story Alert List.

Soaring Demoness,Brandstone,Rixxers,marlilsis,Aleucard,lfy c07,kill everything, Skadoosh11, TerraBull, and vGumiho for adding this to their favorite story list.

TerraBull and vGumiho for adding me to their Author Alert List

vGumiho for adding me to their Favorite Author List

Everything Haruno Sakura! for adding this story to their C2 Archives.

Author's Note:  
After doing some thinking I decided make an side story where Ryo is the main character. Not sure what I am going to be calling it but deals with a upcoming story arc I been planning for awhile. It deals with his connection to Hanabi and the one month gap in her memory.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  
Rin and Sakura were out in the forest nearby Haruna's castle where the pink hair chunin stood before the her student.

"Alright Rin do you know what medical ninja such as ourselves should focus on over attacking?" she asked.

"Supporting our teammates and comrades," Rin told her.

"WRONG!" Sakura yelled out.

"Huh!? Why not as we are medical ninja, so shouldn't that be our primary focus?" her student asked.

"I thought the same thing myself while Tsunade was training me. However what she told me was something so simple that I completely overlooked it" her master said.

"So, what would be more important, Sakura-sensei?" Rin asked curiously.

"Evasion" was the answer that was given.

"Evasion?" was the confused reply to it.

"Of course. You must never let yourself be hit by an enemy's attack. Thus evasion is the first propriety of medical ninja. After all how can you support your comrades if you, yourself, can not avoid getting hurt?" Sakura informed her.

Then Sakura went through the motion of cracking her knuckles, Rin gulped a little bit as she kind of saw where this was going.

"I should start running shouldn't I, sensei?" she said.

"I'll let you go for a bit…as I will attack you seriously, so you better dodge as this is your training. Dodging all my attacks and I do mean all of them" she told her.

"You are going to use those against me too" Rin said with utter shock in her face.

"Why not, they are a part of me whether I like it or not. If I am going to be training you, I will make sure I do it right" she said her tail unwrapping itself from around her waist and summoning the iron sand from her hands.

Rin went a little pale at this as she did not know if she could do this. Sure she was a chunin herself and more over one during a period of war trained by the man that had become the Fourth Hokage. The one before her now that she called master was combat medic trained by the Fifth Hokage who was the granddaughter of the First.

"So you were not serious about following us or even me teaching you then, huh?" Sakura asked.

"I was serious as I am going to follow after you three. But I am not a combat medical ninja just a normal one" she told her.

"So you are not a combat medic. That's what this part of the training is for, to get you started along that path. So I am starting now" the pink hair chunin said rushing after her student.

Some time later…

Rin was gasping for breath as she just managed to dodge a blow from Sakura's Iron Sand mere inches away from her head. Immediately rolling out the of way she dodged another blow and did a flip backwards. The only thing she truly excelled at was her medical ninjutsu. That did not mean she was completely incapable in actual combat, it just meant she was not a fighter.

She wondered if this is what Obito went through whenever he sparred seriously with Kakashi under Minato-sensei. Watching those battle from the sidelines, she never really thought about joining them or trying to take on either of her teammates herself. She was a medical ninja, so she just focused on supporting them and learning medical ninjutsu.

Her movements, though, were getting sluggish as she was starting to get tired from all this dodging she was doing. Which cause her to be a little slower then she would have been when they started at the beginning of the training. As a result, she was struck by Sakura and sent flying not only into a tree, but THROUGH a few trees. Rushing after her fellow chunin she found that she seemed embedded into a large boulder in a Rin shaped crater.

Worried as she had struck her full force, but that should not have been enough to do this. This was something she had only done probably once that was to Naruto when she first had regain her full consciousness and just reacted without thinking.

She eventually decided she was not going to wait any longer. She grabbed the opposite side of the Rin shaped crater and pushed until she ripped apart the boulder. Rin seem unresponsive and stuck in there she would not have been able to get her out otherwise thus the reason she did things that way. What she found however was rather shocking to her.

Lying on the ground was Rin with her clothes in tatters yet she herself was uninjured or harmed. Although this was not the shocking part, that happened to be that once again she was a statue. From head to toe Rin had turned back into a statue again, yet seemed to be completely unharmed from having flew all this way (minus her clothes which were unaffected).

Stranger still was she was able to lift her arm up and then let it fall back down. Hearing the sound of stone hitting stone as she did so. Despite being a stone statue again for whatever reason this time conversely she was not rigid and solid. Her body still had the same full range of motion she would have expected from when she was normal just minutes earlier.

Standing the stone Rin upright with her iron sand she looked around her wondering just what happened. This should not have been possible as Rin did not know any specialized jutsu or have a bloodline limit (Kekkei Genkai). She was told that her family did not have anything like that and her skills with medical ninjutsu were the only thing that stood out about her. From what Sakura had learned about Kakashi's genin team she was probably a prodigy in the rough.

Naruto showed up shortly after this and was about to say something but stopped when he noticed Rin having become a statue again.

"So what happened here?" he asked.

"Not sure as I was merely training her like Tsunade did with me. Dodging my all out attacks…" Sakura told before she was interrupted.

"She what! What hell was she thinking letting you go all out on her?!" Naruto exclaimed.

Glaring with a deadly serious expression that sent a chill down her teammate's spine. She then replied, "It was part of the training and a very important part, thus I merely did the same with Rin. After all, why treat her differently then Tsunade-sensei did with me?"

"But still I..." Naruto started, yet was interrupted by Sakura.

"How did it feel getting pushed off a cliff?" Sakura inquired.

This quickly got Naruto to shut up and possibly wonder how Sakura even knew about that time Ero-sanin (Pervy Sage) could have killed him.

"Anyway Ryo…" Naruto started before he was interrupted himself this time by an unexpected person.

"What about Ryo? Where is he?" Rin asked looking around not really wanting him to see her like this.

"Rin look over here" Naruto call out to her.

"What….*Naruto punches Rin cause her defend herself instinctively with her arms* …HAPPENED TO ME?!" Rin yelled as she noticed thay not only was she unharmed but her body had turned to stone, yet she was still able to move and speak like normally.

This did not last long however, as her body quickly returned to normal and she felt pretty tired afterwards as well.

"Interesting. Man where is that kid as he could really be of help right about now" Naruto said with a sigh.

"Okay Naruto, tell me what's going on here and what's happening with Rin's body and why would Ryo know something" Sakura demanded with Rin merely nodding her head as she poke at her own skin to make sure it was normal.

"Ryo might know more about this than me, but it seems that Rin is showing side effects of having been a statue for twenty years. Apparently this caused her to have developed a safety measure that protects her body from harm. Yet like I said Ryo might know more on this than me as this is what he has a vast array of knowledge in" he explained to them.

"So why don't we just find Ryo then so he can explain what happened to my body" Rin exclaimed wanting to get to the bottom of this right away.

"Slight problem as that is why I came out here looking for you guys…especially you Rin to see if you had seen him. He never came back after his usual morning routine, and just when I was about give him a lesson too" Naruto explained to them both.


End file.
